The price of food products may increase on supermarket shelves. After the Minister of Commerce, Serge Papin, and the Minister of Agriculture, Annie Genevard, agri-food producers and industrialists in turn called, on Friday, for a review of the prices negotiated with major retailers. The war in the Middle East and the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz have indeed caused a surge in the costs of fuel, fertilizers and packaging, which has not been passed on to agri-food customers, trade negotiations having ended on 1is mars.
“More than 7 out of 10 companies say they have suffered a significant increase in the cost of their packaging and almost one in 2 companies say they are facing a significant increase in transport and fuel bills,” indicates Ania (National Association of Food Industries) after a survey carried out among its 23,000 members. Certainly, Iran announced on Friday the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, but Dominique Chargé, president of Agricultural Cooperation, which represents some 2,000 agricultural cooperatives, fears “a long time for normalization”. “Today we need to pass on part of these increases to our customers. Even if we are perfectly aware of the question of purchasing power for our compatriots, everyone must understand that what is at stake is our ability to maintain our food sovereignty,” insists Dominique Chargé.
Ania and the Agricultural Cooperation are both calling for the convening of a committee to monitor commercial relations, in order to negotiate “targeted adjustments”, specifies Ania, which calls on distributors to have a “sense of responsibility”. Until now, the bosses of large-scale distribution have been reluctant. “It’s no. We will resist,” said Michel-Edouard Leclerc on BFMTV/RMC, believing in particular to have been “had” during the renegotiations that took place in 2022 with the war in Ukraine.
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