The idea that the price of water cannot experience waves no longer necessarily flows from source.
Inflation, which amounted to +5.2% in France in May 2022 according to INSEE, continues to spread among everyday consumer products.
After +15.3% increase for pasta or +11.3% for frozen meats, the six pack of 1.5 liter bottles of Cristaline will increase by 1.5 cents for each bottle and 10 cents for the entire Cristaline six-pack.
A real shock, since this is the first price increase for this brand of water for 20 years.
Explanations.
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"
In a degraded economic situation and a generalized inflationary context, [...] Cristaline [will] review its selling price
" according to the Alma group, owner of Cristalline.
Read alsoManufacturers are accelerating in the recycling of plastic
“
The sharp rise in transport and energy costs, and the soaring prices of raw materials
are the main factors which justify, or even oblige, according to the brand, the increase in the price of its flagship product, indicates Alma.
Indeed, Cristaline waters - like the vast majority of water bottles sold in shops - are very dependent on plastic.
However, the price of this material is at the heart of an upward trend that the war in Ukraine is only accentuating.
This began in 2020, at the height of the health crisis, when the various containment measures led to the closure of many plastic production sites all over the world.
Subsequently, the strong economic recovery in 2021 produced a real mismatch between supply and demand,
PET
”, by 39.3%, according to Polyvia, between May 2020 and October 2021. The increase in the price of Cristaline on the shelves therefore seemed inevitable.
Already under pressure in 2020 and 2021, the plastics industry should therefore not be able to catch its breath in 2022. Indeed, the war in Ukraine is imposing a surge in energy prices, and in particular oil;
on which it is particularly dependent.
While it takes, according to France industrie, 1.9 kg of crude oil to produce 1 kg of PET, the barrel of Brent has increased by 51% over one year, to reach 117 dollars in May 2022. Rising costs important in the face of which the brand cannot resist without increasing its prices.
The second best-selling drink in supermarkets
Far from being anecdotal, this increase should affect a large number of households because the Cristaline pack is one of the most purchased retail products by the French.
According to NielsenIQ's 2021 ranking, this famous pack was thus the second best-selling drink in 2020, with a total of 241 million units purchased for a generated turnover of 249 million euros;
just behind the one-liter bottle of Ricard [280 million euros in turnover].
Read alsoRicard, Cristaline and Nutella remained the most popular retail products in France in 2020
The popularity of this product is largely due to its accessibility.
Indeed, the pack of 6 bottles remains particularly - very - affordable: 0.96 cents (cts) at Carrefour, 0.97 cents at Leclerc or 1 euro at Intermarché or Auchan.
"
Cristaline thus remains, by far, the most accessible spring water on the market among national bottled water brands
" according to a press release from the Alma group, owner of the Cristaline brand, dated June 2, 2022. "
The brand has, for more than 20 years and the changeover to the euro, implemented investments [...] so as not to make a price increase
“continues the press release.
Indeed, the company also has a relatively large territorial network given that the water it offers comes from more than thirty different guaranteed "
nitrate-free
" sources spread throughout France, such as the “
Alizée
” source
in the Loiret or the “
Perline
” in the Ardèche.
This allowed it to reduce its transport and distribution costs in the country.
In addition, the plastic weight of Cristaline bottles is 10 grams lower than that of its competitors, allowing production costs and therefore prices to be limited.
But the sequence of the Covid and Ukrainian crises will therefore have stability in its prices...
Thus, although financially bearable, this increase remains symbolically associated with the fact that this inflationary period is set to last.
