French supermarkets to continue price controls until end of 2023
French grocery stores will continue offering selected everyday items at below-inflation prices until the end of the year, France's Bruno Le Maire has announced.
Le Maire announced on France 5 TV that all of the country's major supermarkets had agreed to prolong their 'budget' range of low-cost items until the end of 2023.
Originally, the 'anti-inflation quarter' - which began in March and made it so that supermarkets would apply special discounts to hundreds of everyday items of their choice - was intended to conclude on June 15th, but now will continue till the end of the year.
The inflation-busting measure was brought in at the request of the government and is intended to address the issue of the rising cost-of-living.
Je salue l’engagement des distributeurs qui ont tous accepté de prolonger jusqu’à la fin de l’année 2023 le « trimestre anti-inflation » qui devait se terminer le 15 juin. C’est une bonne nouvelle pour les consommateurs. @oliviagregoire #CàVous pic.twitter.com/80R483j5Yt
— Bruno Le Maire (@BrunoLeMaire) June 5, 2023
The anti-inflation package has differed at each supermarket, with some like Système U offering around 500 marked down items while others offered around 150 goods at a cheaper price. In terms of the individual products offered, these differ from store to store as well, though they are meant to be general, 'every day' goods.
Consumers can tell which the products were chosen based on a multicoloured logo, which should say that the price has been blocked below inflationary levels.
A photo of the logo for products listed on the budget line at a Casino supermarket (Picture Credit: Emma Pearson)
However, Le Maire criticised companies that had failed to renegotiate their costs, saying that France's 75 largest suppliers and distributors had previously committed to renegotiating their prices "once their costs had started to drop", but "to date, only two or three have done so".
In an interview with BFMTV on Friday, the minister said he planned to meet with supermarket distributors and manufacturers to begin negotiations and that he hoped to see the costs for consumers lowered in France "by July", particularly for items like pasta, poultry and oils whose "wholesale market prices are already falling".
Le Maire explained that he had threatened to put reluctant distributors and manufacturers on a list detailing those who had "refused to return to the negotiation table".
In France, food prices have continued to rise due to inflation, even though inflation began to slow down during the month of May when compared with April.
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Le Maire announced on France 5 TV that all of the country's major supermarkets had agreed to prolong their 'budget' range of low-cost items until the end of 2023.
Originally, the 'anti-inflation quarter' - which began in March and made it so that supermarkets would apply special discounts to hundreds of everyday items of their choice - was intended to conclude on June 15th, but now will continue till the end of the year.
The inflation-busting measure was brought in at the request of the government and is intended to address the issue of the rising cost-of-living.
Je salue l’engagement des distributeurs qui ont tous accepté de prolonger jusqu’à la fin de l’année 2023 le « trimestre anti-inflation » qui devait se terminer le 15 juin. C’est une bonne nouvelle pour les consommateurs. @oliviagregoire #CàVous pic.twitter.com/80R483j5Yt
— Bruno Le Maire (@BrunoLeMaire) June 5, 2023
The anti-inflation package has differed at each supermarket, with some like Système U offering around 500 marked down items while others offered around 150 goods at a cheaper price. In terms of the individual products offered, these differ from store to store as well, though they are meant to be general, 'every day' goods.
Consumers can tell which the products were chosen based on a multicoloured logo, which should say that the price has been blocked below inflationary levels.
However, Le Maire criticised companies that had failed to renegotiate their costs, saying that France's 75 largest suppliers and distributors had previously committed to renegotiating their prices "once their costs had started to drop", but "to date, only two or three have done so".
In an interview with BFMTV on Friday, the minister said he planned to meet with supermarket distributors and manufacturers to begin negotiations and that he hoped to see the costs for consumers lowered in France "by July", particularly for items like pasta, poultry and oils whose "wholesale market prices are already falling".
Le Maire explained that he had threatened to put reluctant distributors and manufacturers on a list detailing those who had "refused to return to the negotiation table".
In France, food prices have continued to rise due to inflation, even though inflation began to slow down during the month of May when compared with April.
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