In August, inflation picked up again. To anticipate too high a price increase, Bruno Le Maire announced on Thursday August 31 that 5,000 references present in stores will not see their prices increase. The price of certain items could even drop, according to the Minister of the Economy. He also recalled that the negotiations for 2024 between manufacturers and supermarkets must begin at the end of the year and will thus be able to be anticipated. Bruno Le Maire notably cited several manufacturers such as Unilever, Nestlé or Pepsi, stating that they “could do a lot more” against soaring prices.
The government’s “objective” is to obtain “tariff reductions from January 2024,” Bruno Le Maire told France 2 after meetings with French food chain players on Wednesday and Thursday.
It ensured a “compulsory and immediate pass-through” of the drop in wholesale prices to shelf prices, which will have to be subject to checks by the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention ( DGCCRF), a department of Bercy.
On the other hand, he praised industrialists who had “played the game” by announcing price reductions, such as the pasta specialist Barilla or the oil giant Avril, a company whose president Arnaud Rousseau has just taken over as head of the majority agricultural union FNSEA. .
The government, notably through the voice of the Minister Delegate for Trade Olivia Grégoire, announced in April “a visible drop in prices on the shelves” of supermarkets at the start of the school year, but the bill remains painful for consumers.
