Watchdog focuses on Unilever and P&G
The Competition Commission has in its sights two multinationals, Unilever and P&G, which hold the largest market shares in the washing detergent category.
According to the results of a price survey in Greece and some other European countries carried out by the watchdog, it appears that the products of the above two companies are sold in Greece at prices from 113.92% to 361% more expensive compared to the cheapest country in the EU, which is Ireland.
The Competition Commission proceeded with the price investigation, and published the findings in a newsletter it issued on Thursday, because since July Greece has recorded a disproportionate increase in the inflation of the broader “house cleaning products” category, compared to the eurozone.
According to Eurostat data, while the discrepancy was small until June, with a 5.7% rise in the eurozone and 5.8% in Greece, in July the increase reached 7.3% for the eurozone and 8.1% in Greece, and it expand even more in the following months (8.2% and 11.4%, respectively, in August and so on).
Also, in December the index increased in Greece by 2.5 percentage points compared to November, with price increases in detergents being 15.9% in December against 13.4% in November 2022.
The publication of the data by the Competition Commission mainly aims to convince the companies to reduce their prices, since, if nothing else, the publication of data on high prices and indeed in comparison to countries with higher purchasing power may shame the multinationals into doing so.
It is worth noting that although the regulator refrains from making public its findings as to the causes of the high prices in Greece, the possibility of an investigation into anti-competitive practices in the coming year should not be ruled out.
However, according to competent sources and market analysts, three of the main reasons are the small size of the Greek market, which in essence does not create incentives for great price competition, the low penetration of private label products in the laundry detergent category, as well as the very small domestic production.
