The retail giant Edeka buys the Siegsdorfer Petrusquelle, Aldi Nord takes over Altmühltaler. Large companies are increasingly securing direct access to mineral water deposits. Are they allowed to do this in times of water scarcity?
From
Uwe Ritzer, Traunstein/Treuchtlingen
The shelves with mineral water in many supermarkets and discounters were suddenly empty or only weakly filled last year. Especially Edeka and Netto were affected. For many years, the two retail chains primarily sourced the mineral water that they sell as their own brands at a lower price than the well-known branded products from the beverages group of the Middle Franconian entrepreneurial family Schäff. They in turn pumped it out of the ground from their “Urstromquelle” in Baruth in Brandenburg. But then she wanted more money; the price negotiations failed in spring 2022 and Edeka and Netto had to look for new suppliers at short notice. They found them in France and in the Rhön.