Maximum tension for large distributors and agri-food behemoths who have just completed the annual negotiations on the prices of consumer products.
The contracts concluded last Wednesday between the two camps, after a fierce battle, are already in the crosshairs of Bruno Le Maire.
The Minister of the Economy is keen to defend farmers, after having lobbied for months to lower prices on the shelves.
Nearly three weeks after the start of the agricultural crisis and around ten days before the Agricultural Show, there is no question of releasing the pressure on the two camps, often accused of all the ills of farmers.
Bercy has already identified 124 problematic contracts.
“
These are contracts which were not concluded on time before January 31.
Manufacturers and distributors therefore have 15 days to justify the reason for not signing these contracts
,” the ministry explains.
And if these justifications are not sufficient, those responsible risk a fine of up to 5 million euros.
This is just a first warning.
“
I want to be very clear: sanctions will fall for all manufacturers and for all distributors who do not respect the Egalim law.
No one will slip through the cracks
,” threatened the boss of Bercy on Monday evening.
Doubled controls
Of course, these checks are usual and take place at each end of price negotiations.
But this year, “
we have doubled these controls
”, we explain at Bercy, with more agents to sift through a good part of the thousand contracts concluded between the five largest distributors - Carrefour, Leclerc, Auchan or again System U- and the 75 industrial giants.
“
It’s certain, the DGCCRF has arrived more quickly and more intensively in companies to carry out its checks
,” notes Richard Panquiault, CEO of Ilec, which represents multinational consumer goods companies.
The Egalim law is supposed to protect farmers' income by guaranteeing that the price of agricultural raw materials - as well as their price increases - is non-negotiable.
Large distribution purchasing centers located abroad are particularly accused of possible circumvention of this law.
These are structures that allow distributors to form alliances with their foreign counterparts to negotiate more easily with agri-food giants.
Their respect for French law is questioned.
Respect for the French origin of agricultural products is also closely monitored by the Directorate General for Competition, Consumption and Fraud Control (DGCCRF), which then requires verification of the conformity of the labels on these products. .
“
It’s a good thing that the government is looking into the subject, but it’s a shame that Bercy needed all this to realize that there was a problem with commercial negotiations
,” explains Jérôme Despey, vice-president. president of the FNSEA.
For several years, we have been asking for controls on these subjects from European power plants, from circumventing French law or from respecting agricultural price indicators
.
»
Large distribution “scapegoat”
Enough to make distributors cringe.
After having kept a low profile in recent days, well aware of being the first target of farmers, certain bosses are now coming out of the woodwork.
Large-scale distribution serves as
“a bit of a scapegoat
,” said Système U boss Dominique Schelcher on Tuesday morning on Radio Classique.
“
We have been checked for ten days.
We are extremely controlled.
For the moment, to my knowledge, we are not part of the 124. The question for me is not "if" we will receive a fine, but "when" we will receive it since things are very clear: seen the context this year, where we have to find those responsible for everything that happens.
We clearly expect a fine
.”
Monday morning, the president of the Leclerc centers, Michel-Edouard Leclerc, already indicated that he expected summons and sanctions on
“legal”
points because French laws are
“so complex”
.
“It’s the same every year.
As soon as the commercial agreements are finished at midnight one evening, the next day the administration comes to pump into the computers
,” denounced the president on France inter, however refusing the accusations concerning the circumvention of the Egalim law via the purchasing centers at the foreigner.
There is no doubt that the period is particularly delicate for the government which is not skimping on announcements to defend farmers and the protection of their income.
But who, in recent months, has continued to put pressure on distributors and manufacturers to lower the prices of food products in order to protect the purchasing power of the French.
The Minister of the Economy himself did not hesitate to point the finger, last August, at certain agri-food giants and their margins such as Unilever, Nestlé and PepsiCo.
“
There are fewer contacts today with the minister than when prices had to be lowered
,” admits a representative of mass distribution.
Last March, Bercy even assured that prices would drop on the shelves from the summer.
And there is no doubt that, in this new context, the government is accepting the first results of the negotiations between large manufacturers and large retailers with an average increase in prices for major brands of between 2% and 3%, which should lead to further increases. labels this year.