For 2023, agrifood manufacturers, who began commercial negotiations with distributors, ask for two -digit increases.
by Laurence Girard and Cécile Prudhomme
“Inflation tsunami”, “risks explosion in food prices”, “wall in the face of the rise in energy costs”. Professionals are not lacking in shock sentences to describe their fear of a two-digit increase in selling prices in large areas in 2023. “Revaluation requests that reach suppliers are at extremely high levels: between 15 % and 25 % on many products, “worries Jacques Creyssel, general delegate of the Federation of Commerce and Distribution. Haribo candies up 26 %, MARKS MARKERS DIE UNLOW by 15 %, chickens the Gauls or Master Coq at + 10 %, hams or bresse pâtés at + 7 %…
Industrialists had up to 1 er December to submit their proposals for prices for consumer products to national brand. And both parties until 1 er March 2023 to achieve an agreement. “When Pepsi asks us for an increase of 30 %, we will not be able to divide it by two by negotiating. If we start at this level, it’s very worrying,” says the boss of a French brand.
“A year ago, manufacturers had requested an average increase of 7 % and obtained approximately 3.5 %,” said Thierry Dahan, mediator of agricultural commercial relations. Except that with the post-crisis recovery of the COVID-19, then the war in Ukraine, without forgetting the avian flu epizootic, the production costs have gone. The prices of agricultural raw materials, packaging, transport, energy have soared. The government had therefore prompted, at the end of March, industrialists and distributors to get back around the table to renegotiate over the months. An unprecedented situation.
The sensitive subject of the cost of energy
Result, according to the IRI design firm, at the end of November, the food inflation cursor reached 12 % in supermarkets. But, for some companies, the latest increases obtained are still insufficient to maintain their profitability. Thus Philippe Gelin, Managing Director of the Voalailler LDC group – also known for his brand Marie -, explains that he had obtained a 13 % increase in his tariffs in his catering range until October 31. He wishes a revaluation of 15 % in 2023.
For his part, Jean-Philippe André, president of the National Association of Agrifood Industries and Patron of the Haribo Group, stresses that he only won only his prices of 3 % in March, in order to Put in perspective the additional 26 % requested for 2023. “20 % are linked to the mere increase in agricultural raw materials, mainly sugar,” he said. An additional cost certified by a third party and which therefore enters within the framework of the Egalim 2 law, promulgated a year ago. Aimed at protecting the remuneration of farmers, it sancturates the share of agricultural raw material in prices, which has become non -negotiable, provided you provide tangible proof of its cost.
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