Small importers were selling products at about half the price being sold by the three main big importers to Malta, Alex Agius Saliba claimed on Saturday.

The MEP insisted that his request to the European Commission to investigate food importers in Malta was not a fight against businesses but an attempt to stop possible abuse.

This, he said, was leading to price control and destroying parallel importers. He was being interviewed by Andrew Azzopardi on his programme on RTK103.

Earlier this month, the Labour MEP asked the European Commission to investigate Maltese food importers for antitrust violations.

He claimed that Malta's size and geographical limitations led to the formation of de facto monopolies where a handful of importers dominate the market.

Agius Saliba's move was criticised by the Nationalist Party as well as representatives of business bodies.

On Saturday, he said small businesses were having to hide products they bought from small parallel importers for much cheaper prices, claiming big importers would otherwise stop supplying them or make their lives difficult.

He cited as an example a particular liquid soap from a parallel importer which cost €2.40 while the same product cost €4.60 from the main importer.

To recognise their products and make sure small grocers were buying from them and not from their competitors, the main importers were placing a sticker on their products.

He insisted that what he wanted was a fair situation and stressed he did not have anything against importers who did not try to go against the free market principles.