ACCC to probe wholesalers who don’t provide detailed invoices

The watchdog issued a stern warning to fruit and veg wholesalers, flagging the possibility of hefty fines for withholding produce information from farmers.

Fruit and vegetable wholesalers who do not provide detailed invoices to growers are being warned they face fines of up to $66,600.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has flagged further monitoring of the horticulture sector after audits in 2020 revealed many wholesalers – in Victoria in particular – were not providing farmers with the level of detail required by the Horticulture Code of Conduct around pricing.

The ACCC will conduct audits of fruit and vegetable wholesalers to ensure they are complying with the Horticulture Code of Conduct.

Wholesalers are obliged by the code to give a statement to growers setting out the details of their transactions.

ACCC deputy chair Mick Keogh said the commission was focusing on the wholesalers’ legal requirement to detail these costs which may include storage fees, freight and commission.

“The guidance given is that it should be a net price, plus any charges, and that’s the thing that’s deficient. There’s quite a deal of confusion,” Mr Keogh said.

“Horticulture producers simply get a net price but no idea what’s been deducted along the way, and the code requires that level of detail, and in my observation a sheep producer wouldn’t accept that at all.”

Mr Keogh said the ACCC would strongly consider enforcement action if it identified any noncompliance.

Those who breach the code’s terms of trade face a maximum fine of $66,600.

Growers say they often don’t find out the price their produce has been sold for at the wholesale markets unless they ask, and that this was standard practice despite being in contravention of the code. There appears to be little resistance however given the wholesale markets provide farmers with a much needed outlet to sell surplus produce.

A new, revised code came into effect in 2018 to provide farmers with greater protection from wholesalers and market agents who the ACCC had found were routinely underpaying or not paying at all.

Australian Fresh Produce Association chief executive Michael Rogers said it was ‘important that everyone complies with the code”.