The French government could use tax measures to claw back profits from the food industry if it does not accept talks on high prices, finance minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday. With food inflation running at a record 15% in recent months, the government is furious that retail prices remain high, despite declines in raw-material prices, reports Reuters. Le Maire said that the food industry was reaping big profits and that it must reopen annual negotiations with retailers and lower their prices. “If ever the food industry does not return to negotiations [...] we will use all measures at our disposal, including taxes, to recover profits unfairly made on the back of consumers,” Le Maire told journalists ahead of meeting with representatives of big retailers.
The administration of the Federation of Migros Cooperatives (Migros-Genossenschafts-Bundes – MGB) has decided to operate the supermarket business of Migros as an independent, centrally controlled company, reports ESMmagazine.com. The administrations of the ten regional cooperatives now have until 24 May to decide, the Swiss company noted in a statement. Upon approval from the regional cooperatives, mixed teams from the MGB and the regional cooperatives will look into the further implementation of measures to set up the new organisation.
Coffee traders scrambling to supply roasters with robusta beans are pinning their hopes on Brazil, as prices for the bitter bean typically used to make instant coffee hit 12-year highs, after exports from top producer Vietnam slid. Vietnamese farmers have almost no stock left to sell, after downsizing their coffee cultivation area to grow more profitable passion fruit and durian instead, leaving the market exceedingly tight. Traders hope that Brazilian exports will rise to fill the gap, as the world’s second-largest robusta producer begins harvesting this season’s crop, expected to hit a new record of around 23.15 million bags.
© 2023 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. For more retail news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
