Market structure, power, and the unfair trading practices directive in the EU food sector: a review of indicators

Kjersti Nes, Liesbeth Colen and Pavel Ciaian

Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 2024, vol. 53, issue 3, 454-477

Abstract: Competition and power imbalances in the food chain are under increased scrutiny from policy makers. We assess the competitive conditions in the EU food sector, using firm-level accounting data to examine firm size distributions and market concentration (for 10 countries), and production-function-derived markups (for 7 countries) for food manufacturing, retail, and wholesale industries. Key findings include the following: (i) most firms are small, but larger firms generate most turnover; (ii) concentration is notable in certain subsectors (25% of retail/wholesale and 50% manufacturing subsectors); (iii) the correlation between turnover size, markups, and concentration at subsector level is weak. We discuss the implications for the use of turnover-based classification in the EU policy initiative on unfair trading practices.

Date: 2024
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