As inflationary pressures and geopolitical instability persist, competition authorities across Europe and beyond are increasingly focusing their enforcement and monitoring efforts on the food sector. This heightened regulatory attention stems from the sector’s critical importance to consumers, its vulnerability to anticompetitive conduct, and its role as a sensitive economic indicator—particularly during times of macroeconomic stress.
Bulgaria is the latest
In Bulgaria, the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) has intensified its monitoring of essential food prices in anticipation of the country’s adoption of the euro in 2026. Since early 2025, the CPC has launched an extensive inquiry into price developments across a range of fast-moving consumer goods, including eggs, dairy products, meat, bread, and vegetable oil.
The inquiry focuses on two principal areas: (1) structural market factors contributing to food price inflation, and (2) the behavior of dominant players along the supply chain. In particular, the CPC is evaluating whether retailers are leveraging their market position to impose unfair trading terms on suppliers, including retroactive contract changes and the externalization of non-transactional costs. The Commission has emphasized that, while it lacks the mandate to regulate prices directly, it is committed to investigating potential violations of competition law—such as cartels, abuses of dominance, and unfair trading practices.
Hungary Set Profit Caps
According to Eurostat data, Hungary has recorded one of the highest year-on-year increases in egg and milk prices among EU member states. As of March 2025, egg prices in Hungary were up 26.1% compared to the same period last year—well above the EU average of 6.7%. Similar trends were observed for milk.
This inflationary pressure prompted the competition regulator to open an accelerated sector inquiry, citing the need to assess whether the recent price surges are due to legitimate supply and demand fluctuations or indicative of anticompetitive practices such as price coordination among retailers.
Adding urgency to the matter is the Hungarian government’s decision in March 2025 to cap profit margins on 30 essential food items, including eggs and milk. The cap, set at 10%, was intended as a short-term consumer relief measure.
Netherlands, UK, Croatia and Spain already monitoring
Across Europe, similar investigations, market studies, and enforcement actions reflect a coordinated regulatory pivot toward the agri-food industry.
In the Netherlands, the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) recently saw the Rotterdam District Court affirm its findings in a major cartel case involving three egg-product manufacturers. The companies were found to have engaged in price-fixing, supplier allocation, and the exchange of competitively sensitive information. The court upheld fines exceeding €24 million, underlining the seriousness with which such conduct is treated—even years after the original investigation concluded.
The UK conducted a market study in 2023 on inflation and competition in food and grocery manufacturing and supply. As a result of the study, the CMA opened an investigation on baby formula and ordering manufacturers in 2025 to change labelling, among other requirements.
While there have been no recent cartel cases in the milk sector, the legacy of earlier enforcement remains instructive. In 2019, Spain’s CNMC imposed fines of over €80 million on eight dairy companies and two associations for information exchanges and market-sharing agreements affecting the raw milk supply chain between 2000 and 2013. These decisions continue to set precedent and shape compliance expectations across the food sector.
Further reinforcing the regulatory momentum, the Croatian Competition Agency (AZTN) recently published the results of a sectoral inquiry into retail-supplier relations in the food and hygiene product markets. The inquiry, covering January 2022 to July 2024, revealed that wholesale price increases significantly contributed to consumer inflation. Though no direct evidence of anticompetitive agreements was found, AZTN identified concerning commercial practices, such as tying arrangements, that may warrant further scrutiny.
Global Enforcement Spillover: Turkey and Egypt Take Action
Beyond the European Union, similar developments are occurring in neighboring jurisdictions. The Turkish Competition Authority has launched an expansive investigation into 56 dairy companies and industry associations, focusing on suspected cartel behavior in raw milk procurement, dairy cattle feed, and packaged dairy products. The inquiry aims to uncover whether price coordination or market allocation is distorting competition and harming consumers.
In North Africa, the Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) has initiated criminal proceedings against more than 160 poultry producers and industry representatives for alleged price-fixing. These actions form part of a broader enforcement campaign targeting food price manipulation in a country where inflation has deep socio-economic implications.
Outlook: Towards Coordinated Enforcement in Food Markets
These cases collectively indicate a significant shift in global antitrust enforcement priorities, with food markets receiving systematic attention from competition authorities. Food prices have a direct and immediate impact on household budgets, social stability, and public trust, making the sector highly sensitive to regulatory scrutiny. Additionally, growing concentration and vertical integration across agricultural inputs, processing, and retail distribution have raised legitimate concerns about buyer power abuses and exclusionary practices.
Convergence in enforcement priorities and cooperation between national authorities and the European Commission can be expected. In the coming months, more jurisdictions may initiate formal investigations or sectoral inquiries, particularly if inflation remains elevated or if further evidence of anticompetitive practices emerges.
