Inflation: Bercy threatens to tax big producers who don’t cut prices

It’s been a month now that Economics Minister Bruno Le Maire has been drumming in: while the prices of some commodities (wheat, coffee, etc.) have fallen in recent months, producers must make an “effort” to integrate these cuts into their tariffs. Because even if inflation calmed down in May (5.1% vs. 5.9% in April), food prices still reach sky-high levels (up 14.1% in May after 15% in the previous month).

In recent weeks, “distributors have been playing the game of accepting an anti-inflationary quarter,” the minister said on Wednesday in front of a France Inter microphone. This system will also be extended until at least this summer. But while the 75 biggest producers (Ferrero, Lavazza, Coca-Cola, Mondelez, Essity, etc.) who received Bercy ten days ago also committed to moving lines quickly, “since then, none of the commercial negotiations resumed,” he was annoyed. However, he added, on products “like pasta,” the label should already be visible. To the question of the distributor, carefully anonymous, he confirms: “Nothing happened in a month, most of the major manufacturers abandoned the principle of renegotiating conditions. »

Not before this winter

Either it will change in the coming days, or I will use the fiscal tool to restore the margin they (manufacturers) should be given back to consumers,” threatens Bruno Le Maire. The idea, people around him say, was to tax the sales of very large producers who have pot-bellied annual turnover. The government has not yet set a minimum amount.

A priori, this provision will not apply immediately, as it will be integrated into the next finance law of 2024, which will go to MPs this fall. “But be careful, this does not prevent us from asking these producers for advances on the amounts due this autumn,” we continue in Bercy. A threat the government wants to receive within the virtual hour because its priority remains reopening tariff negotiations.

A takeover that the distributors we approached are increasingly skeptical. Because one of the criteria received by the National Food Industry Association (Ania) and the Consumer Business Liaison Institute (Ilec) to call on the “Top 75 Manufacturers” to resume negotiations is that a reduction in the cost of one of their inputs “by more than 20 % from March 1, ”the text says. However, while some declines were very sharp this winter and spring, they have occasionally slowed down since then.

“With regard to wheat, for example, the fall was 40% since October 1, but only 12% since March 1, so interested producers do not want to return to the negotiating table,” Michel Biero, chief purchasing officer and marketing director of Lidl France, annoys. Another distributor bitterly follows through: “These criteria have been designed in such a way that we cannot apply them. For his part, Jean-Philippe André, president of the main agri-food organization (Ania), said on Wednesday evening that negotiations with large retailers have “restarted”, but that companies should first “sell their shares bought at high prices.” before kissing their prices.