Did you know ...? French finance minister Bruno Le Maire pledged on Friday to take action against food retailers if they do not pass on lower wholesale prices to consumers struggling to cope with the rising cost of living, reports Reuters. Global wholesale food prices have been falling but French food retailers and their suppliers agreed a 10% average increase in prices in annual negotiations in March, which both sides said was necessary to cover higher production costs. Le Maire has repeatedly called in recent days on both sides to reopen negotiations to ensure that the fall in wholesale food prices is passed on. "If they don't do it, we will summon them to the finance ministry and if that is not enough I will use all the powers at my disposal to ensure that the big industrial companies pass on the decrease," Le Maire said during a visit to a company in northern France.
Did you know ...? Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky has proposed a capital increase at Groupe Casino to which it would subscribe under a plan that could lead to a change of control at the retailer, it said on Monday. Casino has around €3 billion of debt maturing between 2024 and 2025, reports Reuters. Currently it is in exclusive talks to combine its French retail business with Teract, as it seeks to reassure investors over its ability to generate cash and reduce debt.
Did you know ...? Portuguese retailer Continente has reformulated more than 538 private-label products in the past three years, removing approximately 860 tonnes of sugar and 120 tonnes of salt. In addition, the supermarket chain said it has removed palm oil from around 92 SKUs. Salt and sugar has been reduced in products such as yoghurts, breakfast cereals, cookies, soft drinks, potato French fries, tomato pulp and take-away soups, reports ESMmagazine.com. The changes were implemented on a gradual basis, such as in the case of the sugar content of liquid yoghurts and salt in take-away soups, so that consumers would not experience a big difference in taste, the company added.
Read More: Did You Know ...? 18 April 2023
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