Gloomy message on meals costs: – No “fast repair”

KONGENS GATE, OSLO (Nettavisen): Excessive meals costs and poor competitors are worrying Trade Minister Cecilie Myrseth.

– The competitors is just too unhealthy. It has been like that for a very long time, says Myrseth.

Nettavisen is visiting the ministry the place Cecilie Myrseth is, who has been within the chair for just a little over a month because the Minister of Trade.

– It notably worries me as a result of it means a lot to folks what the procuring basket prices. It will be significant that we don’t pay an excessive amount of for the meals and that there are totally different merchandise accessible, she says.

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– I want we might have seen him yesterday

Myrseth says she needs to proceed with the federal government’s ten level plan for higher competitors within the grocery market. It has been nearly a yr and 4 months since its predecessor launched, in February 2023.

– When will folks discover the outcomes of what you might be doing, and the worth will drop considerably?

– I want we might have seen him yesterday. However it is a difficult enterprise to make modifications in, says Myrseth.

– We’re progressing properly with the measures, however we don’t sit within the authorities and determine the costs of the totally different groceries. However we will take steps to enhance the competitors and decrease the costs and enhance the choice, she says.

– So a number of years sooner or later or …?

– We have now been engaged on this since 2021, and we have now created a number of measures, and we’re engaged on much more. However I’m not going to present a date for when the costs will likely be at this stage and at that stage, says Myrseth.

– We do all the pieces we will to enhance the competitors. And I am apprehensive in regards to the growth, she says.

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– Ingen “fast answer”

Within the authorities’s ten-point plan for higher competitors within the grocery trade, 5 of those factors are audits or inspections.

Among the many different factors is the regulation towards value discrimination, which has been below session in two rounds, and which isn’t but on the right track.

In any other case, the federal government has banned rivals from establishing store properties they now not personal. The federal government has additionally stopped chains and producers making an attempt to lift costs within the media.

– You might have acquired criticism for beginning many investigations. When are the steps coming?

– There isn’t any one who can implement a brand new coverage with out having information of which the coverage might be grasped. There isn’t any “fast repair” right here, says Myrseth.

– Traditionally we have now taken many steps to enhance the aggressive scenario within the grocery trade, and we’re at the moment taking a number of steps, she says.

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Essentially the most highly effective grip

Myrset repeats a number of occasions that it’s the sum of all of the steps that’s vital to enhance competitors.

– What do you assume is probably the most highly effective transfer you may make?

– We have now created each the ten level plan and that steering is strengthened, and that…

– However there are ten factors, aren’t some steps extra vital than others?

– Nobody can say that there’s one measure that can repair this, says Mirseth.

– So all the pieces is equally vital?

– I’ve recognized three particular factors, which have already been applied. Considered one of them is to strengthen the Competitors Authority, which is essential. The second is to make it simpler to entry store premises. After which we have now tightened the alternatives to spotlight value will increase within the media, says Myrseth.

– Then we’re working with the Competitors Authority to get extra instruments and regulation to forestall value discrimination. These are concrete issues. It is the quantity that issues. There isn’t any “fast repair,” she says.

Customs

A number of specialists have identified that Norwegian customs safety is a vital purpose for poor competitors within the grocery market. The Norwegian Competitors Authority additionally believes that modifications in customs safety are vital if higher competitors is to be achieved.

– Those that imagine that customs safety is the answer to all the pieces, I don’t agree with that, says Myrseth.

– It’s apparent that the safety of customs has an impact on the aggressive scenario, however we have now a number of concepts to soak up this nation, together with that we have to be self-sufficient in meals, that we have now agriculture all through the nation and entry to native manufacturing. meals

– So it’s fully out of the query to take a look at customs safety?

– Agricultural coverage is unchanged, it’s fastened, she says.