The French have not finished facing the rising price war. According to Michel-Édouard Leclerc, this Sunday, the battle of inflation is “not yet” won. Yet this is what the Minister of the Economy says. At the end of November, Bruno Le Maire declared that “overall, inflation today has been defeated and it is a real economic success”.
“He anticipates,” responded Sunday on BFMTV the president of the strategic committee of the number one distribution group in France, when asked about the minister’s enthusiasm. Inflation slowed in France in November, to +3.4% over one year according to INSEE after +4.0% in October, thanks in particular to a slowdown in prices in services, energy, and in a to a lesser extent manufactured products and food.
Price drops that the French should feel from “February, March”
Michel-Édouard Leclerc, on the other hand, is banking on a slowdown in price increases next year which “does not exceed 2.3%” in its brands, and the effects of which should be felt in the wallets of the French from ” February March “. “We are in the process of negotiating, we are in the process of purchasing for next year, the Leclercs are going as one man,” continued the manager, adding: “we are going to seek negative information from the large multinational manufacturers to compensate for yesterday’s hyperinflation.
Annual commercial negotiations take place each year to set the conditions (purchase price, shelf space, promotional calendar, etc.) under which supermarkets will obtain supplies all year round from their agro-industrial suppliers. These discussions usually conclude on March 1, but the government has decided to bring them forward by a few weeks in the hope of a quicker reflection in shelf prices of reductions in the cost of certain raw materials.