After the Senate, Bercy's turn to take a closer look at price increases in stores.
Monday, July 4, on France Inter, the Minister of Economy and Finance announced the launch of controls, “
sector by sector
”, in order to ensure that the increases recorded in distribution for a few months are very legitimate.
Read alsoFrom food to transport, how inflation weighs on the purchasing power of the French on a daily basis
“
On food, we have already started, with the DGCCRF, a thousand checks on a certain number of products
”, detailed Bruno Le Maire.
Conceding that this remained insufficient, the Minister noted that these additional controls should look “
from one end to the other
” of the sectors, from production to distribution, including transport and processing.
This work should make it possible to “
see if there are unacceptable margins
”, and, possibly, to sanction the “
profiteers of the inflationary crisis
”.
This speech comes a few days after renewed accusations from the industrialist Michel-Édouard Leclerc: "
Many of the increases requested are increases in anticipation, even speculation
", he declared on BFMTV, at the end of the week. last.
The entrepreneur called for the launch of a
parliamentary “
commission of inquiry ”, in order to return to the “
origins of inflation
”.
Several elected officials welcomed this track, including the boss of the PS, Olivier Faure, and the deputy (LFI) Manuel Bompard.
The Senate quickly bounced back on these remarks.
On Friday, the Economic Affairs Committee, chaired by Sophie Primas, announced that it would “
seize the question of purchasing power and the causes of inflation in the prices of consumer products
”.
The first elements will be published on July 20.
This work should shed light on the debates in Parliament around the bill aimed at protecting the purchasing power of households, which promise to be turbulent.
In food, price increases have been particularly strong in recent months.
In June, according to INSEE, labels were in turn hit by inflation, increasing by 5.7% over one year, the highest since July 2008: fresh products saw their bill climb by 6.2 %, against 5.7% for other food products.
A track on promotions
On France Inter, the Minister of the Economy also returned to other avenues to protect the portfolio of the French.
The government will in particular propose to raise the ceiling for promotions: today, the law provides that they cannot exceed “
34% of the selling price to the consumer
”.
"
I propose to raise this threshold to 50%
", so that buyers can benefit from "
bargain prices
", announced Bruno Le Maire.
The Minister does not seem convinced by the idea put forward by Michel-Édouard Leclerc to remove the additional margin on food products.
"
Today, at the request of the FNSEA and French food manufacturers, we are forced to take a 10% margin on food products
", lamented the distributor, at the end of last week.
This system requires retailers to keep a margin of at least 10% on the sale of food products, in order to boost farmers' incomes.
"
10% must go back to the producers, I want to make sure that this 10% goes well to the producers
", declared Bruno Le Maire, announcing the launch of a "
mission of the general inspection of finances
" on this point.
