The commissioner shall collect relevant information from the market place, both directly and from appropriate secondary sources. This information may include product prices, both wholesale and retail, taking into account quantity, packaging, quality, specific market and time of year, purchasing habits of wholesale and retail buyers and preferences of consumers in terms of quantity, packaging, quality and season and availability of supplies of both directly competitive products and substitute products. In addition to these factors needed to make short-term marketing decisions, information may also be collected relevant to long-term marketing decisions, such as production costs, profitability and market structure. [PL 1983, c. 563, §2 (NEW).]