Market transparency

The aims of market transparency

A lack of market transparency and information asymmetries can lead to inefficient markets and give those with access to the most accurate data disproportionate power. This is why the EU currently provides pricing and other market information for many agricultural commodities.

Though the EU provides extensive information on agricultural producer and consumer prices, less information is available on prices in the intermediary stages of the food supply chain.

Providing information for these intermediate steps will increase market efficiency by supporting better business decisions and improving trust between stakeholders at each stage of the food supply chain. Having easy and timely access to information about market developments is also key to allowing European food producers to compete effectively in global markets. This will benefit smaller operators in particular, who do not have access to this information through private sources.

On 1 October 2019 the European Commission adopted new regulatory measures to improve market transparency in the agri-food supply chain.

Market transparency in practice

The regulation covers the meat, eggs, dairy, fruit and vegetables, arable crops, sugar, and olive oil sectors.

It adds a wider scope to existing data collection systems and procedures, providing new information on the downstream stages of the food supply chain.

The data will help all operators – including farmers, their producer organisations, and small and medium sized enterprises – to observe market trends at the different stages in the chain and to evaluate their impact.

Each EU country is responsible for collecting price and market data. To reduce the administrative burden, the Commission recommends small and medium-sized enterprises are not targeted in this data collection. EU countries communicate the data to the Commission, which makes the information available on its agri-food data portal and EU market observatories. It is essential that the information provided by EU countries is accurate and timely. A number of common queries about market transparency are addressed in the Commission's frequently asked questions document.

Agricultural markets task force

The market transparency regulation was a response to the recommendations of the agricultural markets task force, an independent expert group set up to consider ways to increase producer power in agri-food markets. It concluded that reducing the level of information imbalance in the supply chain would have a positive impact on competition, and especially, smaller producers.

Cooperation and expert advice

As part of the new regulation, the Commission will consult EU countries, stakeholders and independent experts to monitor the application of the regulation, best practices and new developments in the area of market transparency. It will also be discussed as part of the regular work of the committee for the common organisation of the agricultural markets.