The Icelandic competition Authority published a report on business dealings between Icelandic suppliers and food stores. Iceland has the highest food prices in Europe. In 2003 food prices were 42 percent higher in Iceland than in Europe.
“The difference between 2003 and 2006 could be because the recent inclusion of poorer Eastern European countries into the EU has lowered the average of prices” says Ólafur Darri Andrason, economist of the Icelandic Confederation of Labor (ASÍ) in Morgunbladid.
“However, we have still the highest food prices in Europe […] and the results must make us wonder how we could increase competition in the food market” Andrason says.
According to the report, several of the business deals between food stores include clauses that designed to prevent competition. According to Andrason, the Icelandic Confederation of Labor is due to call for changes that will lower food prices permanently.
