Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of supermarket pricing strategies on the long-term viability of UK farming businesses.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is responsible for investigating UK competition issues. The CMA updated its analysis of competition and profitability in the groceries sector in July 2024, which found no evidence of groceries inflation being driven by weak competition between retailers.

The Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) regulates the relationship between the UK’s largest grocery retailers and their direct suppliers by encouraging, monitoring and enforcing compliance with Groceries Code, a CMA owned competition measure.  The Code covers interactions between retailers and direct suppliers which excludes most farmers. The Code does not regulate prices, which is a commercial negotiation.