The French will see costs for some meals fall this yr, French Economic system and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire stated on Sunday, addressing widespread considerations after final yr was suffering from will increase in meals costs.
After many months of so-called “meals inflation,” Le Maire assured the French that the worth of some meals merchandise would fall in a Sunday interview with France three.
“We’ll see worth cuts in butter, in oils, in sure merchandise like poultry, in sure meats, not simply stabilization,” he stated within the interview.
France is likely one of the international locations “the place costs have risen probably the most since January 2022”, with cumulative meals inflation of 17.9% between January 2022 and August 2023, in line with a latest evaluation by NielsenIQ. They’re adopted by Spain, with 17.2%, the UK with 16.7%, Italy with 16.four%, Germany with 15.5%, Belgium with 14.9% and Portugal with 12. four%.
However regardless of a tough 2023, Le Maire is satisfied issues will enhance as soon as negotiations between retailers and meals suppliers finish on January 31, echoing what a number of large grocery store bosses have stated lately in regards to the worth will increase and including that worth will increase wouldn’t attain the degrees they reached after the outbreak of the Ukrainian conflict.
“The excellent news is that double-digit inflation is over,” stated Thierry Cotillard, president of the Les Mousquetaires group (Intermarché, Netto, Bricomarché, Bricorama, and many others.). Western France on Saturday, criticizing producers for elevating costs at a time when uncooked materials costs have already been falling for a number of months.
To precise its opposition to cost will increase by producers, the French grocery store large Carrefour has already eliminated Pepsico manufacturers (Pepsi-Cola, Lipton, Lay’s, Doritos, and many others.) from its cabinets.
In the meantime, though Le Maire seems to have assured that commerce negotiations between retailers and distributors, usually held in March, will probably be introduced ahead as he introduced through the summer season of final yr, he opposed the concept of such negotiations being organized all year long regardless of different European international locations having adopted such negotiations. a technique as costs skyrocketed throughout the block.
“I feel it could pose plenty of issues for our producers. […]and I worry it could make our farmers rather more susceptible,” he stated.
However in line with Daniel Ducrocq of NielsenIQ, it’s exactly as a result of France has determined to carry commerce negotiations yearly that it stays behind its European neighbors in decreasing meals costs, Ducrocq stated. The Figaro In an interview.
Requested about the opportunity of going through the disaster with extra meals vouchers, as requested by quite a few associations and politicians to assist the poorest, Le Maire responded: “Let’s overlook about voucher insurance policies, at present we’ve got no means,” and stated that he most popular to extend Assist for associations and meals banks.
(Hugo Struna | Euractiv.fr)