He had thrown a stone into the pond at the end of June by accusing "half of the price increases" requested by the industrialists in the name of the war in Ukraine of being "suspicious".
This Wednesday morning, Michel-Edouard Leclerc was no less severe.
“Consumers see the reality in their stores”, namely that “food prices have increased by 7 to 8% last month”, affirmed the president of the executive committee of the stores of the same name on RMC and BFMTV.
And this inflationary movement, which strains many homes at the start of the school year, cannot stop given the requests for price increases addressed by suppliers to its negotiators, according to him.
“We receive requests for an additional 9.2% on food (…) 12% for ready meals, 15.98% for canned fruits and vegetables, 30.7% for pastries, 22% for household packaging.
And "when we ask for justifications" for these price increases, "we don't have them", he accuses.
Michel-Edouard Leclerc (@Leclerc_MEL): "Prices will continue to rise" pic.twitter.com/7JwFQ9ILVA
– BFMTV (@BFMTV) September 7, 2022
"Industrialists hold general speeches via their federations, they do not assume to ask us to increase prices", "and we are the bad guys", he reproached.
“It might be time for manufacturers to renegotiate their raw materials upstream, with their equipment manufacturers.
When it happens to us, it's already late, ”continued the son of the founder of Leclerc hypermarkets.
Read alsoInflation: prices also blocked in textiles
At the end of August, the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire had warned that the rise in prices would not subside before 2023. Faced with the rise in the prices of energy, packaging, the rise in transport prices, and everything else, many households, which benefit from state aid, are forced to go to food banks to feed families.
It is in this very constrained context that Emmanuel Macron revealed on Monday how he hopes to involve "energy operators" making superprofits during the crisis, via a European system.
