The rise in prices of certain raw materials is not the only explanation.
“It’s expensive,” simply sums up a mother interviewed by BFMTV. Candy, cakes, sweet drinks… The prices of these products are currently rising sharply in supermarkets while inflation tends to decline (2.2% in April).
Example with the bottle of Coca-Cola that we can see above the symbolic bar of 2 euros. “Instead of taking three bottles, we take two,” explains a consumer.
Why this outbreak? It is notably due to the increase in the cost of certain raw materials such as sugar and cocoa, the prices of which have exploded in recent weeks before starting to fall again in recent weeks.
After tough negotiations
But it is also the consequence of the tough commercial negotiations between manufacturers and distributors last spring. If the agri-food giants accepted certain reductions, they also demanded new increases on certain products.
“Today, if we see price increases in one month, it is because the brands which have made increases, such as Coca, have managed to negotiate these increases,” explains to BFMTV , Pascale Hebel, consumer specialist.
Last November, the CEO of Coca-Cola France, François Gay-Bellile, announced that he would demand a price increase of 7% on average for his products from manufacturers in the negotiations, while hoping to maintain the price of its product below the two euro mark.
It will be recalled that the 1.75 L bottle of Coca-Cola was in 2022 the third product which generates the most turnover in supermarkets in France, behind the pack of 6 bottles of Cristaline and Ricard, according to figures from Nielsen.
This upward trend for these sugar or cocoa-based products is expected to continue. But according to the specialist, this should not dissuade the French from consuming it. Chocolate-based products always constitute a pleasure purchase for consumers, particularly in an anxiety-provoking context.
Olivier Chicheportiche Journalist BFM Business
