As the end of the annual trade negotiations nears, the climate between manufacturers and retailers remains extremely tense. Latest example: the dispute between Tropicana and Carrefour that led the distributor to withdraw the famous fruit juices from its shelves.
According to data from the retail specialist, Olivier Dauvers, broadcast by Beverage Departmentthe Tropicana brand, owned by the investment fund PAI Partners, saw its distribution rate in Carrefour stores fall from 85% in January to 0% today.
Internal Carrefour sources have also confirmed to the specialized magazine “complicated negotiations” with Tropicana and have assured that they have “big problems with this supplier.” Hence the breaks observed on the shelves for a few days.
In a context of inflation, this type of litigation is becoming more frequent. In most cases, the disagreement relates to price increases demanded by manufacturers, which dealers judge to be disproportionate. It is also for this reason that Intermarché and Casino withdrew from the waters of the Danone group last September.
“Irresponsible attitude”
Invited at BFM Business on Tuesday, the general delegate of the Fédération du Commerce et de la distribution, Jacques Creyssel, accused the “big manufacturers” of taking advantage of inflation to ask for price increases greater than the real increase in costs they suffered.
“Totally unacceptable” comments for Lactalis. “En juin dernier, il nous avait fait le même coup, c’est-à-dire que la grande distribution avait mis en doute la probité des acteurs industriels, à tel point que le ministre de l’Économie, Bruno Le Maire, avait I sued their services of mener une enquête”, in response to the porte-parole du géant de l’agrialimentaire, Christophe Piednoël, rappelling that the results of this same enquête avaient conclude that neither the distributeurs nor the industriels n’avaient tenté de profiter de the situation.
Annual trade negotiations will end on March 28. After this date, the new negotiated prices will gradually be transferred to stores, hence the fear of a “red march” mentioned by distributors. For its part, Bercy intends to carry out a “new investigation in the spring to make sure that no one is lining their pockets,” Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire announced this week on RMC and BFMTV.
Source: BFM TV
