Is the “anti-inflation quarter” promoted by the government effective? Has it lowered some prices in supermarkets? While galloping inflation does not seem to want to slow down, the Ministry of the Economy and the consumer association UFC-Que Choisir show their disagreement on the effectiveness of the device.
In an attempt to stem inflation on supermarket shelves – still measured at nearly 16% over one year in March – the government had initially tried to put together an “anti-inflation basket” to allow comparison of price between brands. Faced with business opposition, the operation became an “anti-inflation quarter”, three months from March 15 during which supermarkets pledged to sell a selection of products at the “lowest possible price”, formula leaving them a great freedom of maneuver.
A drop of “13%”?
On May 10, the Minister Delegate in particular for Trade Olivia Grégoire affirmed that, “on average for seven weeks, the prices of products for the anti-inflation quarter have fallen by 13% in the basket”, claiming to be based on figures from Fraud Control (DGCCRF).
His cabinet later clarified to AFP that this figure corresponded “to the evolution of prices” between the week of March 6 and that of April 24 “for the products of the anti-inflation quarter of the Auchan, Carrefour hyper and supermarket brands, Casino, Franprix, System U and Cora”. But on Monday, the influential consumer association UFC-Que Choisir assured that “unfortunately, this statement is false”.
Increases at some brands
The association indicates that it “reviewed the price trends of a large sample of products in the anti-inflation baskets (between 50 and 150 references depending on the brand), between March 23 and May 10, for the five brands » participating in the operation. Assessment: average increase of 1.5% at Intermarché, 1.4% at Casino, 1% at System U, stability at Carrefour and slight drop at Auchan, of 0.3%.
The Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, questioned on BFMTV and RMC, denounced “a dishonest methodology”, the UFC-Que Choisir taking as a basis of comparison March 23, i.e. “after the start of the operation”, he lamented. Olivia Grégoire’s cabinet insists that the “anti-inflation quarter” was “designed so that prices stop rising or even fall from their level before the implementation of the quarter”.
An inadequate response to inflation?
Grégory Caret, director of the Observatory of consumption at UFC-Que Choisir, defended himself: “We reacted to Olivia Grégoire’s statement referring to the drop over the last seven weeks”, hence the comparison prices beginning March 23. “We can do the same exercise since March 1, we find the same results with the exception of the Casino brand which actually lowered its prices at that time,” he says. A price drop that is part of a global reorientation of the brand’s commercial policy.
Grégory Caret also believes that the operation is “probably not the appropriate response to inflation”, the baskets comprising “few products and not necessarily those that you are used to putting in your basket”. The government, which is trying at the same time to push the big food manufacturers to renegotiate the prices of their production downwards with the supermarkets, has already announced that it wants to extend the “anti-inflation quarter” beyond June 15, under a form that remains to be determined, however.