During the past five years, the Swedish food industry has become even more concentrated – something that increases the risk of poorer competition and higher food prices. – The situation is difficult to assess right now, says Martin Bäckström, head of unit at the Swedish Competition Authority, to TT. The last time the Swedish Competition Authority did a more comprehensive review of the industry was in 2018, when it was determined that market concentration was high in Sweden from a European perspective, but despite that there was relatively well-functioning competition. But since then the concentration has only increased, and the main reasons for that are that Axfood bought Bergendahl’s wholesale operations in 2021 and that Coop bought the low-price chain Netto in 2019. – A lot has happened since 2018. The situation is difficult to assess right now. That is one of the reasons why we do a broad review, to see, for example, if some of the price increases are due to competition not working as well as it should, says Martin Bäckström to TT. Dominated by three players The food industry in Sweden is dominated by Ica, Axfood and Coop, where the former is the largest with over 50 percent of the market. Last year, ICA’s sales in the grocery trade amounted to SEK 307 billion. In recent years, Axfood has overtaken Coop in size, and under its umbrella are a number of store chains such as Hemköp, Willys, Tempo and Matöppet. Since two years ago, they also own 10 percent of Citygross. The expert: The industry has been constant for many years Low-price chain Lidl had a market share of just under 6 percent in 2021. According to Jonas Arnberg, retail expert and former CEO of HUI, the Swedish food industry has looked roughly the same for several years. – Because the big players have such a large share of the market, the grocery trade has been fairly constant for many years. The big thing that has happened is e-commerce and the low-price range. There are two trends that the grocery trade has largely met by buying up the new players, he tells TT. When it comes to the wholesalers, he states that there are not many options for those who want to set up shop at the moment. Axfood is today the only wholesaler in Sweden that also sells to stores outside its own group, which means that independent players such as Matrebellerna and Direkten stores must buy from Axfood. In the winter, the Swedish Competition Authority is expected to present a major report on the situation in the industry.
t4-general