With increasing world market prices as a result of the Ukraine war, more expensive electricity and rising inflation, several European countries have introduced price ceilings on food. The left party now demands that the Swedish government also act on the rising food prices and introduce a price ceiling on basic goods.
The Swedish food market is dominated to 90 percent by the three major food players Ica, Axfood and Coop, which despite difficult times in the past year have made billions in profits.
“Sharing the burdens of the crisis”
According to the Left Leader Nooshi Dadgostar, the high profit margins of the food giants indicate a central problem, namely that they “make sure” to raise their prices in addition to the cost increases.
– This means that they have a lot of room to make sure that we can share the burdens of the crisis, she says in a debate in Agenda.
– It is not reasonable that it is the banks, the food industry or the electricity companies that come out of this crisis as winners, she says.
The left party wants the government to gather the food giants and ensure that a voluntary agreement on a temporary price ceiling is introduced.
Inflation as a whole
Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson (M) believes that she is conducting a dialogue with the large grocery stores, but does not think that politicians should interfere in pricing.
– We have been very clear that companies should not take the opportunity to unjustifiably raise their prices. But going from there to a price cap – those are two different things.
– The government’s absolute priority right now is to push back inflation as a whole, she says.
Shortages may occur
According to the Minister of Finance, another negative consequence of price ceilings could be that there is a shortage of foodstuffs.
– When you lower the prices of certain goods, they are used up faster, then there is a shortage.
The Swedish Competition Authority is currently investigating the question of whether consumers are paying too much for the food, and Svantesson wants to await the authority’s conclusions.