Verbot des Einkaufs von Lebensmitteln und Agrarerzeugnissen unterhalb der Produktionskosten : weitere Erfahrungen in Spanien, Frankreich und Italien (Stand 2024)

This report builds on the analysis published in 2023 on a ban on purchasing agricultural products and food below the cost of production (Forstner, 2023). In particular, it focuses on recent experiences and evaluations of regulatory measures on agricultural producer prices in Spain, France and Italy. The central aim of the laws in the three countries, which will enter into force in 2018 and 2021 respectively, is to improve incomes in agriculture by ensuring so-called cost-covering or fair prices for primary producers. Measures to change the asymmetrical power structures in the food value chain in favour of primary producers are also expected to contribute to this. The legislation varies from country to country. While Spain and Italy have formulated a strict prohibition on buying below production costs, with reference to unfair trade relations, France has opted for a more flexible construct in which production costs at primary level are only to be taken into account in trade contracts. All three countries target the entire value chain and cost-based pricing from the bottom (agriculture) to the top (processing, trade), with France enacting particularly far-reaching and detailed regulations with provisions on cost transparency rules, automatic price adjustment in case of cost changes and non-negotiability of agricultural commodities in the further stages of the value chain. In France, several pieces of legislation (EGAlim 1 to 3) have been introduced several times, as shortcomings in the regulations in force at the time were identified and further regulation was required ...