Belgian Competition Authority Accepts Commitments and Ends Proceedings Over Potato Price Index
- 31/01/2025
- News
The Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) has accepted commitments from Belgapom, the Belgian potato trade and processing industry association, thus ending its inquiry into the organisation’s price index. The weekly price index results from interviews with representatives of both growers and purchasers and is intended to reflect the most common price prevailing on the physical market for specific potato varieties that will serve as input for frozen fries.
The BCA accepted the very existence of the price index, noting that it presents the double benefit of (i) reducing price volatility for growers and purchasers; and (ii) compensating for price information asymmetry on the physical potato market.
Despite its support for the price index, the BCA was concerned that the frequent and systematic meetings among purchasers could result in the coordination of purchase prices at the expense of growers. The BCA also feared that such coordination could exert a harmful downstream impact.
Belgapom’s commitments seek to alleviate these concerns. They (i) establish what the BCA refers to as an “objective methodology” for establishing the price index; and (ii) create a digital platform which permits a data input that is both anonymous and aggregated. Some of these adjustments are reflected in an adapted set of regulations that can be consulted on Belgapom’s website.
The BCA’s full decision, promised to be published soon, will offer useful guidance regarding the justifications for creating and maintaining the price index and the precise guardrails established to avert collusive conduct among the competitors feeding the pricing index.
