Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of the Economy, meets Monday, June 5 the industrialists of the food industry to ask them to lower the prices. It’s not the first time, but it sounds like an ultimatum. The decryption of Fanny Guinochet.
The meeting of agri-food manufacturers and Bruno Le Maire on Monday, June 5, will be the last warning to manufacturers so that they quickly pass on the shelves the price reductions recorded on the wholesale market. It is in any case, what ensures Bercy. ICereal, oil and energy prices have fallen sharply.
>> Price up, but inflation down: discover the new edition of the franceinfo shopping basket in your department
Today, wheat, for example, trades at less than 220 euros per tonne, whereas it was double a year ago. Ihe problem is that it does not necessarily show on the labels, as evidenced by the inflation basket of franceinfo.
However, theinflation is slowing, but some food prices remain very high. A sign that industrialists, at least a few, are rebuilding their margins, which is obviously disputed by those concerned, such as the National Association of Food Industries (ANIA), the main professional federation in the sector which will meet with Bruno Le Maire.
The threat of a tax
IThe exchange promises to be strong, because the minister had given these groups until June to lower prices. The date having passed, Bruno Le Maire will tell them again later that if they do not rectify the situation quickly, the sanction will fall: they will be entitled to a tax. A tax that would rather be on turnover, which is more restrictive. This still very much remains unclear: qWhich companies exactly would be affected? How high ? Two certainties, however: this tax would be exceptional, therefore temporary, andt it would be included in the next finance bill that the government is preparing. The executive wants to show that it acts on purchasing power, the first concern of the French. According to an Ifop study published last week, a third of them live on less than 100 euros from the 10th of the month.
Still, the government believes that supermarkets have rather played the game, if only by introducing the anti-inflation quarter, this range of products sold at cost prices in supermarkets. An anti-inflation quarter which will also extend beyond June 15 in supermarkets. And if thehe major brands say they are making an effort, it’s a loss of earnings which amounts to millions of euros, they assure that they cannot go beyond. Especially that at the moment, many brands are restructuring: Carrefour will lay off a thousand employees, Casino is struggling with its colossal debt or Auchan which is selling supermarkets.