Organic food mark-ups draws fire from price watchdog

A row is brewing over the prices charged to consumers of organic produce in Switzerland. © Keystone / Christian Beutler

The Swiss price watchdog office has entered into a row with big retailers over the mark-ups they charge consumers for organic food products.

Stefan Meierhans released a report on Friday complaining that supermarkets are failing to cooperate with his investigation.

Meierhans suspects that some retailers are ramping up the cost of organic foods to unacceptable levels of up to 30%. The price watchdog chief wants this reduced to a maximum of 20%.

But his report also includes complaints that at least one retailer is trying to undermine his probe by withholding data.

The Swiss media have pointed the finger at Switzerland’s largest retail group, Migros, which denies it charges excessively high prices for organic products.

Another large retailer, Coop, told Swiss public broadcaster SRF that market competition is too fierce to allow excessive mark-ups.

But Meierhans is unimpressed by these statements. By comparing mark-ups in the Netherlands, his report concludes that competition is too weak in Switzerland.

The report suggests new Swiss regulations, similar to those adopted by New Zealand, to prevent retailers from excessively marking up the prices of organic foods.