2023-09-26 21:00:07
In a supermarket, in Lens (Pas-de-Calais), April 28, 2023. DENIS CHARLET / AFP
Presented to the Council of Ministers on Wednesday September 27, will the bill on inflation make it possible to stem the surge in prices on the shelves? Bercy, which for months has been trying in vain to get manufacturers and distributors to renegotiate their prices downwards, is forced to go through the law.
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Summed up in a single article, the text of the bill “on emergency measures to adapt the provisions of the commercial code relating to commercial negotiations in mass distribution”, brings forward by a month and a half the date on which large industrial groups and distributors must, according to a very supervised exercise, have agreed on the supply conditions (prices, quantities, etc.).
This year, they must have signed their contracts no later than January 15, compared to the usual March 1, for the new prices to be on the shelves. “no later than January 16, 2024”. Government objective: “pass on price reductions to the consumer as quickly as possible”we indicate to the Ministry of the Economy.
“Increase between 5% and 15% to start negotiations”
This exceptional exemption from the commercial code for this year concerns all suppliers of consumer products “of which the turnover excluding taxes achieved in France (…) is more than 150 million euros » or exceeds “1 billion euros”, in the context of large groups whose accounts are consolidated. « [Sont directement visés] the 75 largest manufacturers, with whom we have engaged in dialogue for several months”which are “those most able to make an effort”, we indicate at Bercy, specifying that they represent “more than 50% market share”.
Will renegotiating more quickly be enough to moderate food inflation which jumped by 11.2%, in one year, at the end of August, and by 19.9% in two years, according to INSEE? Nothing is decided, according to the distributors, interviewed like the industrialists ahead of the presentation of the text, Wednesday September 20, by the economic affairs committee of the National Assembly.
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It should not be “advance the negotiations so that they conclude with additional inflation more quickly for the French”underlined Dominique Schelcher, CEO of Système U. “At the moment, only one supplier sent us its prices for 2024, and the proposed increase is 10%added Thierry Cotillard, president of the Les Mousquetaires group (Intermarché and Netto stores). The discussions we have today with certain multinationals make us think that prices will increase between 5% and 15% to begin negotiations. » “We can expect inflation in 2024 to be around 3% or 4%”added Philippe Michaud, co-president of E.Leclerc, to the parliamentarians. “Every year it’s like this. What is important is the exit point, not the entry point”tries to put Bercy into perspective.
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