The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has found that there is no evidence indicating that competition is not working in the Irish grocery retail sector.

In a report released today (August 7), the CCPC found that increased competition in the market over the last 20 years has brought sizeable benefits for consumers.

It also found, that food price increases in Ireland have been "well below the European average" and that this coincides with increasing competition in the Irish market.

However, the CCPC found that one of the "key drivers" of recent food price rises, is the increase of some agricultural product prices, which have been higher in Ireland than the European average.

The CCPC said that while grocery prices have increased significantly since 2021, they have done so at a slower pace than some of the key input costs, such as agricultural prices.

In the report, the CCPC suggests that competition in the grocery market has helped limit the impact of increased agricultural prices on Irish consumers.

According to the CCPC, up until 2024, agricultural output prices largely tracked agricultural input prices. However, recently output prices have shown a "strong increased" compared to input prices.

Between Q1 2024 and Q1 2025, agricultural output prices in Ireland rose by 19.3%, the highest in the EU and significantly above the EU average of 2.6% for the same period.

Meanwhile, in the same period, agricultural input prices in Ireland fell by 4.6%, the second-highest decline in the EU, behind Lithuania.

The CCPC report said: "While the data points to upward pressures in agricultural output prices as being an underlying factor in recent grocery inflation, this observation relates to a short period of time (2024-2025).

"The recent increase in Irish agricultural output prices is likely to be driven by a combination of factors along the supply chain such as increased global demand, supply constraints and global market volatility," the CCPC added.