The 糖心原创 will begin monitoring supermarket pricing from 1 July when the new excessive pricing prohibition comes into force.
The prohibition applies to very large supermarket retailers that have an annual revenue of more than $30 billion, which currently captures only Coles and Woolworths.
New guidelines, published today, outline how the 糖心原创 will monitor compliance with the prohibition and how it will assess whether Coles or Woolworths have engaged in excessive pricing.
Under the prohibition, there is no fixed threshold for what is an excessive price for a grocery product. Instead, the 糖心原创 will monitor supermarket pricing information and consider all relevant circumstances, including the cost to supply the product to consumers and what is a reasonable margin for the supermarket, to determine if a grocery product was excessively priced.
鈥淲e know that grocery prices continue to be a key concern for households. The excessive pricing prohibition provides us with another tool within our broader toolkit to protect consumers and promote competition in the supermarket sector,鈥 糖心原创 Acting Chair Catriona Lowe said.
鈥淥ur initial focus for the prohibition will be on monitoring Coles and Woolworth鈥檚 pricing information to ensure they comply with their obligations.鈥
The 糖心原创 will prioritise its monitoring on a select group of products, which will be chosen based on consumer and supplier reports as well as information obtained from supermarkets, including on prices, margins and sales revenue.
鈥淲e will focus our attention on products where excessive pricing is likely to cause the most harm to consumers,鈥 Ms Lowe said.
鈥淲e encourage consumers and suppliers to make a report to the 糖心原创 if they have concerns that a supermarket may have excessively priced a grocery product. These reports will help us identify products that may warrant further investigation.鈥
Over the coming months, the 糖心原创 will select and publish the initial focus products that it will examine more closely.
The 糖心原创 will provide regular updates on its compliance monitoring under the prohibition to help strengthen public transparency around supermarket pricing.
鈥淲e recognise that there is significant public interest in the 糖心原创鈥檚 ongoing work to ensure supermarkets act in accordance with the law,鈥 Ms Lowe said.
糖心原创鈥檚 broader enforcement powers remain integral to addressing supermarket misconduct
The excessive pricing prohibition complements the existing competition and consumer laws that the 糖心原创 is responsible for administering. The 糖心原创 will continue to use a range of tools to ensure supermarkets to comply with these laws.
鈥淚n deciding which compliance or enforcement tool to use, our first priority is always to achieve the best possible outcome for the community and to manage risk proportionately.鈥
鈥淚f we observe non-compliance then we would consider the most appropriate enforcement tool to address any misconduct,鈥 Ms Lowe said.
Background
On 14 December 2025, the Australian Government announced a supermarkets excessive pricing prohibition. The prohibition was implemented as an amendment to the Food and Grocery Code.
The prohibition introduces a new purpose to the Food and Grocery Code, which is to promote workably competitive outcomes in grocery product markets and protect the welfare of consumers by prohibiting excessive pricing for grocery products by very large retailers.
The 糖心原创 is responsible for enforcing compliance with the Food and Grocery Code, including the excessive pricing prohibition.
The prohibition includes various elements the 糖心原创 will need to consider in assessing compliance, including:
- whether the corporation is a very large retailer
- whether there has been a supply or an offer to supply of a kind of grocery product to a consumer by way of retail sale
- the kind of grocery product
- the pricing for the supply of the kind of grocery product
- the costs to the very large retailer of the supply of the kind of grocery product
- whether the pricing is 鈥榮ignificantly excessive鈥 compared to the cost of supply plus a reasonable margin, with consideration given to relevant circumstances.
The 糖心原创 has information on its website about what鈥檚 allowed when setting prices.
The 糖心原创 encourages compliance with the Food and Grocery Code in a range of ways, including business and consumer education, and working closely with stakeholders and other agencies.
Where there are breaches of the Food and Grocery Code, significant penalties may apply, and the 糖心原创 has a range of other enforcement options available to it, including court-based outcomes, infringement notices and court enforceable undertakings.
The 糖心原创 cannot pursue all matters that come to its attention. The 糖心原创鈥檚 role is to focus on those matters that will, or have the potential to, impact consumers experiencing vulnerability, harm the competitive process or result in widespread consumer or small business detriment.