Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

asked the Minister representing the Treasurer, upon notice, on 22 March 2011:

(1) Does the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) consider that the current supermarket duopoly does not have a substantial share of the relevant local market in relation to liquid petroleum gas (LPG) fuel sales; if so: (a) on what research is that based; and (b) can copies of the evidence/research be provided.

(2) Can the ACCC advise how much of the retail fuel market Coles and Safeway control; if so, can details be provided with particular reference to LPG fuel sales.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Treasurer has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

(1) In the context of competition assessment, market definition is a purposive process involving the specific facts of the particular matter. In some cases local market definitions are appropriate whereas in others, a broader market might be suitable. For this reason it is not possible to answer the question of whether an entity has a substantial share of the relevant local market in the abstract.

(2) Chapter 3 of the 2010 ACCC Petrol Monitoring Report outlines unleaded petrol retailers' share of the volume of retail petrol sales. The below table has been extracted from page 39 of that report.

Whilst the ACCC does not publish comparable share of sales data on automotive LPG, the ACCC understands that Coles' and Woolworths' shares of the volume of automotive LPG sales are smaller than their share of the volume of retail petrol sales.

Table: Share of volume of retail petrol sales by brand (per cent): 2002–03 to 2009–10

Source:    2007 ACCC petrol inquiry report and ACCC analysis based on data obtained from firms monitored through the ACCC's monitoring process

*Note:   2009–10 data estimated by the ACCC on the basis of information provided by the monitored companies.