Large retailers pledged to “take into account” the request for higher prices from their agro-industrial suppliers linked to the increase in the cost of energy, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), according to a “letter”. , not legally binding, signed this Thursday in Bercy.
As every year, food manufacturers and large retailers have entered a period known as annual trade negotiations (lasts until March 1, 2023), during which they must agree on the price at which the latter will buy the products from the former. to put on the shelves during the year 2023.
Except that these negotiations will take place in a very tense context due to the strong inflation of many items of spending, from packaging to agricultural raw materials, going of course through the expected rise in the electricity bill. To the point of threatening the economic sustainability of certain manufacturers, according to industry representatives.
“Not legally binding”
“This is the first time that, voluntarily, brands have agreed to assume part of the cost increases linked to energy for SMEs” that supply them, rejoiced the Delegate Minister for SMEs and Commerce, Olivia Grégoire. However, she acknowledges that the document “is not legally binding.”
The letter signed under the auspices of Olivia Grégoire and the Delegate Minister of Industry, Roland Lescure, establishes that when “concrete and documented justifications are presented by the requested rate increase related to the increase in energy costs”, the distributor agrees to “take this request into account when negotiating the price”.
In the event that the supplier is an “independent and not a subsidiary of a large group” SME, the distributor “undertakes to accept the corresponding part of the requested price increase”, the constitutive act also stipulates, which is only valid from from 2023. negotiations.
A condition, in addition to the production of elements to prove this price increase (invoice, certificate from a trusted third party such as an auditor for example): that this information has been provided “no later than four weeks after December 1, 2022 “, which is the date on which manufacturers should have sent their general conditions of sale to their retail customers.
Source: BFM TV
