Zoff about increased prices |
No more Coca-Cola at Edeka
Zoff between Edeka and Coca-Cola.
From now on, Coca-Cola will no longer supply the supermarket chain!
Background to the dispute: The beverage giant raised prices sharply on September 1st. According to “Lebensmittelzeitung”, the supermarket chain had already announced in July that the prices for all products and packaging would increase “in the higher single-digit percentage range”.
Edeka does not accept the price increase.
Edeka boss Markus Mosa
Such price wars are by no means an isolated case, says Nils Busch-Petersen from the Berlin-Brandenburg trade association. “Many food manufacturers have recently raised their prices under the guise of inflation to squeeze profits.”
The ones who suffer are the customers.
Edeka had already warned its suppliers against excessive price demands. “Food must not become a luxury good,” says Edeka boss Markus Mosa.
Rewe boss: Free riders drive up prices
Competitor Rewe had already announced that it would not pass on all increases to customers – and thus also wanted to accept the impact on profits.
According to the retail giant, consumers in Germany have to be prepared for even higher food prices because large suppliers in particular are continuing to screw up prices.
“Most of them are free riders… who surf the price wave and benefit from it to improve their results,” said Rewe boss Lionel Souque on Wednesday evening before the “Business Journalists’ Association” in Düsseldorf.
And further: “Many multinationals make more dividend income than last year”. However, the Cologne group defends itself against the demands: “We are fighting brutally against it.”
“Many come and announce price increases of ten percent and say Rewe should pass this on to the customer,” reported Souque. “That’s totally unrealistic.”
However, the majority of suppliers are behaving sensibly, said the Rewe boss. “But we have a problem with the really big manufacturers who have the power to enforce demands,” he added. Here, too, Coca-Cola, for example, argued in analyst presentations that the group was reducing its costs through austerity programs – and then justified Rewe’s demands for price increases with rising costs. “Then we have a problem,” he added.