With soaring prices, negotiations between suppliers and distributors, which should lead to signed contracts by Wednesday 1is March to establish the rates for the year, are even tighter than usual. The former are trying to pass on the increase in their production costs (energy, transport, raw materials, etc.) to their selling prices; the latter are trying at all costs to limit these increases, which risk scaring off their customers.
However, it is difficult to generalize, nuance Jacques Creyssel, general delegate of the Federation of Commerce and Distribution, which represents the brands. It is necessary, according to him, to distinguish between large industrialists and SMEs. ” With [elles]90% to 95% of the contracts have already been signed, because we have taken their energy costs into account, as we had committed to by a charter with the government”, he explains.
With the big brands, on the other hand, “the discussions are even more difficult than usual”and only about 60% of the contracts have already been signed. “On the same product, we have requests for increases 50% higher than those of SMEshe points out.. Clearly there are big companies that want to increase their margins in 2023 and are looking to take advantage of the situation. »
New rates
In recent weeks, distributors had sounded the alarm to warn consumers of an inflationary wave from March, when they will pass on the new prices to the shelves of supermarkets. Michel-Edouard Leclerc, president of the strategic committee of the E.Leclerc centers, had announced, in mid-January on social networks, a few price changes requested by manufacturers such as “Mondelez (LU, Milka, Granola, Mikado, Oreo): + 17 percent, Kellogg’s (Pringles): + 17 percent, Beiersdorf (Nivea): + 15 percent, Unilever (Maille and Amora): + 25 percent, Unilever (Axe , Rexona, Dove, Skip, Signal, Sun, Mom) : + 14 % ».
The rise in prices in 2022 has already forced the French to spend 280 euros more than in 2021 to fill their trolley with consumer goods
Proof that the negotiations are tense, Olivier Dauvers, specialist in the retail sector, and the specialist magazine Beverage department have already noted the disappearance, at the beginning of February, from the shelves of Carrefour, of Tropicana orange juice. At the end of this period of negotiations, prices should increase by at least 10%, estimates Mr. Creyssel.
One thing is certain: shopping will cost the French even more in the months to come. Inflation in 2022 has already forced them to spend 280 euros more than in 2021 to fill their shopping cart with consumer goods, according to research firm NielsenIQ. In 2023, this additional cost could even reach 790 euros compared to 2021, according to NielsenIQ’s assumptions based on a peak of 15% inflation in June. The firm expects that« [elle] should continue until the summer of 2023, before approaching stability”.
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