2023-06-09 08:15:00
The 75 major agri-food manufacturers have made a commitment to Bercy to lower the prices of hundreds of products affected by soaring inflation on the shelves, as of July, the Minister of the Economy announced on Friday. Bruno Le Maire.
“I tell the French that from July, on a certain number of references and products, the prices will drop. And we will check it, and we will sanction those who do not play the game”, declared Mr. Le Maire on BFMTV/RMC.
“This is what the industrialists committed to” at a meeting Thursday in Bercy, he added, stressing that this initiative was aimed at “several hundred everyday consumer products” the list of which will be sent to him “ next week”.
Among the products concerned, Bruno Le Maire cited pasta, poultry, cereals or even oils, namely those whose “prices on the wholesale markets are falling”. “When wholesale prices fall, (… ) it sometimes takes three months, four months, five months before the price of the products concerned (…) also drops”, he explained. Manufacturers immediately accepted “an early indexation” without which the drop in wholesale prices would only have been passed on “around September, October, or even a little later”.
The rise in consumer prices rose to 5.1% in May over one year, but that of food products still reached 14.1%. The big food manufacturers, such as Coca-Cola, L’Oréal, Mondelez or Nestlé, have also committed to reopening trade negotiations with supermarkets on contracts concluded for 2023, according to the minister.
The government had once more put pressure this week on manufacturers who were reluctant to renegotiate in order to quickly lower prices on the shelves. Bruno Le Maire had raised the threat of a publication, “before the end of June”, of the names of those who would not play the game.
“The Minister of the Economy does not have a ruler in his hands with which he might lower or raise prices. On the other hand, he has the power of injunction vis-à-vis manufacturers and distributors for their say + you get together, you find agreements and you lower the prices +. This is what we arrived at yesterday “(Thursday), he said once more.
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