The government is mulling a clampdown on supermarket chains’ internal pricing practices alongside a national conservation push, as it targets both corporate structures and household habits blamed for keeping the cost of living high, Senior Minister Kerrie Symmonds has revealed.

Transfer pricing – the way companies set prices for goods and services exchanged between different parts of the same corporate group – has been identified as a potential driver of higher supermarket shelf prices, especially where the same group controls importing, distribution and retailing and can add mark-ups at each stage.

According to Symmonds, officials are now looking at possible reforms to require more transparent, arm’s-length pricing between related entities, in a bid to ensure consumers are not paying for hidden “padding” in the supply chain.