"I tell the French that, from the month of July, on a certain number of references and products, the prices will drop," said Bruno Le Maire on Friday June 9 on BFMTV-RMC. Pasta, cereals, poultry… Hundreds of food products will thus see their prices drop by virtue of a commitment made to Bercy by 75 major agrifood manufacturers, promised the Minister of Economy and Finance.
This commitment comes as the government has been putting pressure for several weeks on these powerful groups, such as Coca-Cola, L'Oréal, Mondelez or Nestlé, to do their part in the efforts to curb the soaring food prices that are penalizing the household wallet.
"And we will check it and we will sanction those who do not play the game" via fraud prevention checks (DGCCRF), assured Bruno Le Maire. "This is what the industrialists committed to" during 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, oils or even animal feed, namely those whose "prices on the wholesale markets are falling". But not milk, beef or pork. “When wholesale prices drop […] it sometimes takes three months, four months, five months before the price of the affected products […] also drops,” he explained. Manufacturers thus accepted "early indexation", without which the drop in wholesale prices would only have been passed on "around September, October, or even a little later".
Consumer price inflation slowed to 5.1% in May year on year, but that of food products reached 14.1%.
Several major food manufacturers have also pledged to reopen trade negotiations with supermarkets on contracts concluded for 2023, according to the minister. He specified that, for the moment, there were two or three industrialists who were negotiating, while about fifteen could do so: either because they had already increased their tariffs by more than 10% during the previous annual negotiations (completed on March 1), or because some production costs have fallen by more than 20%. The government had again put pressure this week on manufacturers who were reluctant to renegotiate with distributors.
Bruno Le Maire had thus raised the threat of a publication, "before the end of June", of the names of those who would not play the game. "The possibility remains on the table", he assured Friday . “If there is one of these 75 agribusinesses, these large multinationals who have margins that continue to grow […], that means that he is not playing the game of the fight against inflation . So his name will be revealed to the public,” he warned.
The Minister also threatened "a tax on the excessive margins of these companies", the rate of which would be set by Parliament. "The profit margins of food and beverage companies rose sharply in the first months of 2023 and they more than recouped the losses they had made in the past two years," he said. . "There's a part of the margins that you have to give back to the consumer," he insisted of these companies. "You do, great, and I think you will." You don't, we'll get it back through tax. »
For their part, supermarkets will extend until the end of 2023 their anti-inflation operation, whereby they sell a selection of products of their choice at the "lowest possible price".
