Leclerc will not twist the arm of SMEs. In any case, that is what the head of the first distributor in France assures us this morning at BFM Business.
While the large retailers signed a letter on Thursday under the auspices of the Minister for SMEs and Commerce, Olivia Gregoire, in which they agree to accept transferring to their prices the extremely high cost of energy suffered by SMEs in the food industry, Michel-Edouard Leclerc explains why he agreed to sign this agreement.
“We need SMEs”
The distributor, which has some 18,000 local suppliers and producers, fears that the current period will be fatal for many of them. What would deprive you of assets once the crisis is over.
This agreement, which will cover the current period of trade negotiations (lasts until March 1, 2023), will not, however, be “legally binding”. An SME should not have recourse if a sign does not respect it.
If Leclerc promises to be “friendly” to SMEs, on the other hand he is well disposed to break large food companies. Denouncing double-digit price increases by its large suppliers (+26% Haribo, +49% Mars Petfood, etc.), the distributor considers their increases unjustified.
“Ebro [Panzani] and ferrero [Nutella] they have a profit of 24%, L’Oréal and Danone, operating margin of more than 12% thanks to the price increases that have passed, he lists. It means that when we tell consumers that we cannot do otherwise, it is not true. The consumer did not finance increases because it was unavoidable, we also financed the dividend of these large companies.
The round of negotiations that has just begun between distributors and producers promises to be tough.
Source: BFM TV
