Poland fines supermarket chain Biedronka over profits at cost of suppliers

Poland's antimonopoly watchdog (UOKiK) fined the owner of the country's largest food retailer Biedronka, Jeronimo Martins Polska, 723 million zlotys ($197.94 million) on Monday for unfairly reaping profits at the cost of its suppliers. Suppliers were only notified of required discounts after contracts had been signed, supplies provided and payments made, UOKiK said in a statement, in violation of good practices and legal requirements.

Poland's antimonopoly watchdog (UOKiK) fined the owner of the country's largest food retailer Biedronka, Jeronimo Martins Polska, 723 million zlotys ($197.94 million) on Monday for unfairly reaping profits at the cost of its suppliers.

Suppliers were only notified of required discounts after contracts had been signed, supplies provided and payments made, UOKiK said in a statement, in violation of good practices and legal requirements. "This leads to unexpected price drops for the suppliers, a drop in profits and margins and therefore makes business planning significantly more difficult," the competition watchdog said in a statement on its website.

Jeronimo Martins Polska earned more than 600 million zlotys from the questionable practices over the last three years, the competition watchdog said, and the practices affected over 200 companies, most of which were fruit and vegetable suppliers. The company said it would take the case to court.

"Jeronimo Martins Polska strongly opposes the biased decision imposed by UOKiK... We regret that this unfair decision and the aggressiveness of the form and content of the announcement come up at a particularly difficult time, when Biedronka is at the forefront of customer support in a joint effort to fight the pandemic," it said in an e-mailed statement. ($1 = 3.6527 zlotys)