Curiosidade do dia

E volto ao meu anfitrião em Manchester...

Os jornais ingleses de hoje estão cheios de notícias e artigos de opinião sobre a versão inglesa de AOC: o governo Labour.

Por exemplo, no FT temos "Price cap plan for groceries prompts angry backlash from supermarkets". O artigo descreve a polémica em torno de uma proposta do Governo britânico para convencer os supermercados a aceitarem limites de preço voluntários para produtos essenciais, como pão, leite e ovos.

"The Treasury was hoping chancellor Rachel Reeves would use a speech to the Commons today to trail a radical policy for supermarkets to agree a voluntary price cap on essential groceries.

But a fierce backlash to Labour's plan, revealed in an FT report on Tuesday, has forced Reeves to scrap the idea.

The proposal for supermarkets to introduce voluntary price caps on goods such as bread, milk and eggs in return for easing or delaying forthcoming regulation was seized on by retailers and political rivals, who claimed it was an admission that the government's policies were fuelling inflation.

Marks and Spencer chief executive Stuart Machin told reporters yesterday that the idea was "completely preposterous".

...

The regulator found that average operating margins across Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury's were 3 per cent in 2023-24. Discounters Aldi and Lidl were operating on margins of just 0.7 per cent.

This reality does not appear to be well understood by the British public. A recent poll of 3,000 individuals by the Institute of Economic Affairs found that people believed supermarkets were making profit margins of up to 50 per cent.

...

Introducing price caps would require a level of cross-industry co-ordination that is illegal, according to industry insiders, who also expressed concern over how supermarkets would choose which groceries to include and what the prices should be."

Numa crise de preços, é tentador apontar para o actor mais visível junto do consumidor. No entanto, o preço final resulta de uma cadeia inteira: produtores, energia, logística, salários, impostos, embalagens, regulação e margens. Atacar apenas o último elo pode ser politicamente simples, mas estrategicamente pobre.

E mais, mesmo que uma proposta nunca seja implementada, o simples facto de ser discutida pode alterar a relação entre as empresas e o Governo. Os retalhistas passam a ver o regulador como uma fonte de risco imprevisível. Para as empresas, isto reforça a importância de monitorizar não só clientes e concorrentes, mas também os riscos políticos e regulatórios.