Last month, 22 grocers were sent detailed questionnaires to be completed and returned within 20 working days.
A Tesco spokesman said: 'We are trying to be as helpful as possible, but it's a huge questionnaire, with hundreds of questions and an awful lot of detail required, which has to be collated in a specific way. We're happy to do that, but it takes time - many others have found the same.'
He added that it expects to file its response in 'weeks rather than months'.
The Commission said it has started to receive submissions and had already received a response from supermarket chain Asda. Sainsbury's and Morrisons are also expected to file their responses today.
A Competition Commission spokesman said: 'We are very grateful to those who have managed to get the information to us by the required date. We do realise it's a challenge to gather all the information in such a short space of time. We are prepared to be flexible, but we do need to set down demanding time scales in order to meet our own demanding deadlines.'
In June, the Commission also said that it was sensitive to the 'burden and uncertainty caused by an inquiry like this' and would carry out the investigation 'quickly, as well as comprehensively'.
Following a consultation period, the Office of Fair Trading announced in May that there were enough competition concerns in the sector to warrant a full inquiry. More than 1,200 responses from the public were received during the consultation, most supporting a referral to the Commission.
The inquiry is due to publish its findings in October next year.
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