Costco Wholesale trading director Steve Barnett has accused suppliers of tacitly endorsing the predatory pricing tactics of the multiples.

Speaking at the Federation of Wholesale Distributors annual conference, Barnett called on the government to bring in legislation banning below-cost selling.

Predatory pricing did take place, he insisted, despite the Competition Commission's failure to find evidence of below-cost selling or vouchering outside the normal course of business.

After acknowledging such legislation was unlikely in the light of the Competition Commission inquiry so far, Barnett urged suppliers to accept some of the responsibility and take action to stop such pricing tactics.

"The chances of legislation are slim but suppliers could put an end to it if they really wanted to," he said.

Wholesalers and independent suppliers could fight back and win against the multiples but this would require greater co-operation between them, argued Barnett. "We need tangible support for FWD and industry initiatives," he said.

He went on to reveal that the discount wholesaler would open its 20th UK depot in Cardiff this summer and another new site in Croydon before Christmas. This would bring Costco's total selling space in the UK to three million square feet and the company's headcount to 5,000.

Barnett was not the only speaker at the conference to question the Competition Commission inquiry. David Greene, partner at the Edwin Coe, the law firm acting for the Association of Convenience Stores in relation to the inquiry, said the ACS had asked the commission to explain why it had not further investigated the "climate of fear" for suppliers.

This, he claimed, had been identified in the commission's emerging thinking but had slipped off the agenda in later findings.

"The commission told us some suppliers had not provided certain information because even giving the information could harm their legitimate interest," he said.

Greene said he had written again to the commission to find out why this angle was not being probed.

"There is still room for manoeuvre and we could still score in the last minute," he added.

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