Food prices are finally falling a little

It is a slight drop, but a drop nonetheless. For the first time since 2021, the NielsenIQ Institute observed a decline in prices in supermarkets, of 0.52% in September compared to August. In previous months, prices were only stable (+0.1%), despite the government's efforts to bring them down.

The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, has been asking manufacturers for several months to resume language with their distributor customers in order to review their prices downwards. Even if the result is not up to his expectations and the inflation rate for food products continues to hover at 11% over one year and even 20% over two years, "we must admit that some manufacturers have made efforts," says Emmanuel Fournet, consultant at NielsenIQ. Between June and the end of August, out of 20,000 products from major national brands, half saw their price fall." The fall in prices observed in September was more marked for national brand products (-0.7%) than for private label products (-0.3%).

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Unsurprisingly, the sharpest declines are observed on products that incorporate a raw material whose price has decreased. The price of pasta (-1.16%) thus benefited from the decline in wheat prices. That of frozen meals (-3.36%) reflects the fall in energy prices, of which they are major consumers.

This trend is expected to increase. At the request of Bruno Le Maire, manufacturers and distributors have developed a list of 5000,<> products whose price should remain stable or decline until the end of the year. The date of annual commercial negotiations between manufacturers and distributors has also been brought forward. Several distributors, however, sounded the alarm on Wednesday: these negotiations could result in further increases.

Heard Wednesday at the National Assembly, Thierry Cotillard, the boss of the Musketeers, considered for his part legitimate to ask his suppliers a reduction in their rate between 2% and 5% for the year 2024.