The Austrian Food Trade (WKÖ) welcomes the Federal Government’s efforts to contain the inflation. The chairman of the food trade particularly positively emphasizes that the Federal Government acts against territorial delivery restrictions. Our committee has been pursuing this claim for some time and was actively committed to appointments with the Commission in Brussels months ago. “Such restrictions prevent cheaper prices for Austrian consumers: inside. It is an important step that this procedure is finally being contained,” explains Prauchner.
At the same time, however, one indicates the real causes of inflation: “The food trade is not triggered by inflation. We are at the end of a long value chain in which increasing prices of energy, raw materials, transport and production are accumulating.
In its extensive industry examination, the federal competition authority has already confirmed that the margins of the food trade were not increased and the competition works. This makes it clear that trade does not bear responsibility for the current inflation. “In this context, the question arises whether an expansion of the competencies of the Federal Competition Authority and Statistics Austria would actually make a meaningful contribution or whether, on the contrary, it could further make food prices more expensive due to even more extensive reporting obligations,” Christian Prauchner from the Federal Food Trade in Austria notes critically.
The discussion about the so -called shrink flation must also be classified correctly. “When products become smaller, the responsibility is with manufacturers. You have to clearly mark it. The trade sold what is delivered – we are not responsible for the packaging sizes of the producers,” said Prauchner.
The food trade is always available for constructive discussions with politics and society. Transparency is expressly to be welcomed, but it must mainly start in the upstream stages of the value creation. Because the main drivers of the current price increases are in production and on the world markets.
But the public sector itself is currently fueling inflation. Therefore, the food trade demands that the state also contributes to its contribution. “Due to indexing and valorizations, fees and levies have recently increased heavily and further heat the inflation. This urgently needs to be stopped,” warns Prauchner. A current example of this is the increases of the parking fees and the public tickets in Vienna by 30 % from 2026 and the also significant increase in the Viennese local tax.
Another big topic is energy. “If energy is artificially expensive due to the strong increase in network fees, the prices in all limbs of the supply chain rise.
Last but not least, the reduction in bureaucracy is also crucial. Laws and permits have to be simplified, reporting obligations are reduced. “Any relief in the bureaucracy helps to reduce costs and thus also cushion the price pressure,” emphasizes Prauchner. (WK341/DFS)