Call for transparency

What farmers get out of a kilo of supermarket butter

Flour, butter, fruit: the prices of everyday foodstuffs have risen sharply over the past two years. The SPÖ would now like consumers to know what the supermarkets' purchase prices are - in other words, how much they pay the food producers.  

Everything is getting more expensive! This is what customers have been feeling when shopping in the supermarket since inflation skyrocketed in 2022. Even though prices have recently fallen again in many areas, you still have to dig much deeper into your pockets for many everyday foods than you did a few years ago.

What do farmers get?
The SPÖ is now calling for food prices to be made more transparent. Supermarkets should disclose how much they pay for the products they produce so that customers know what proportion of the cost of a food product actually goes to the farmers, says SPÖ agriculture spokesman Mario Haas. This is just as difficult to see on retail price tags as it is on the country's price radar, where the price development of common foods in the most important supermarkets can be called up online.

AMA shows purchase prices
However, if you click through the Agrarmarkt Austria (AMA) website, you will come across an interesting link: "Report on price transparency in the food retail trade (LEH)". This is a monthly overview of the purchase prices for butter, flour, etc. that food retailers pay to producers and how these prices are developing (see chart).

The latest figures published by the AMA.(Bild: stock.adobe, Krone KREATIV)

Adjustment of the price radar
SPÖ politician Haas is now calling for this information to also be shown in the state's price radar in future. "This creates transparency for end consumers and also increases understanding of the situation in which our farmers find themselves," says Haas, who is hoping for a corresponding resolution at the next committee meeting on April 25.