Food manufacturers “agree on the principle” of early negotiations between supermarkets and their biggest suppliers, deeming it realistic to be able to close them on January 31, according to the president of the main organization in the sector (Ania ), Jean-Philippe André.
The government asked “to anticipate the annual negotiations to come, which were to end on March 1, 2024”, after discussions with supermarkets and their suppliers to the agro-industry, detailed to AFP Jean- Philippe André on Thursday. “We agree on the principle, which makes it possible to put an end to this suspicion that we do not want to negotiate”, he observed, while asking that “whatever the system that is put in place, it must be careful not to disadvantage SMEs” in the sector.
“Anticipate by one month” by closing the negotiations for 2024 “on January 31 must be an objective that can be achieved” he estimated with caution, saying that the Ania (National Association of Food Industries) was going to “question ( its) members on this point”.
Distributors and agri-food manufacturers negotiate each year from December until March 1 the conditions of sale for a large part of the products sold throughout the rest of the year in supermarkets. During the last episode concluded last March, the average price paid by supermarkets to manufacturers increased by 9%. But the price of a certain number of raw materials has fallen since that date and the government has called on the various parties to get back around the table to review the prices.
According to distributors, very few of their industrial suppliers have played the game of these renegotiations in recent months and inflation has remained very high on the shelves of supermarkets. The Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire announced Thursday an early opening of the 2024 negotiations between the 75 largest manufacturers and their retail customers. “Rather than having negotiations that conclude in the spring of 2024, they will be concluded at the beginning of the year 2024,” he explained, announcing “a piece of legislation that will set in stone the anticipation of this negotiation”. Negotiations for 2024 will therefore open earlier, with the objective of “tariff reductions from January 2024”, declared Mr. Le Maire on France 2.