Like the government, the new boss of the FNSEA is in favour of "name and shame" against the least supportive industrialists. In an interview given to Le Parisien and published this Sunday, Arnaud Rousseau calls for giving the names of large industrial companies that surf on the rise in prices to inflate their margins. "If there are profiteers of inflation, let Bruno Le Maire give the names. If there is evidence, let's stop the threats and name them, "demands the president of the group Avril (Lesieur, Puget, Isio 4 ...), elected at the head of the main agricultural union a month ago, calling to "designate those who abuse".
While the government has been putting pressure for several weeks on agri-food manufacturers to reopen trade negotiations with distributors, in a context of falling prices of certain raw materials on the markets, threats have hardened this week. If nothing happens in the coming weeks, "we will do the "name and shame", we will publicly quote the brands that do not want to negotiate down and I am not sure that it makes [them] advertising," warned the Minister Delegate in charge of Trade Olivia Grégoire Wednesday on RTL.
" READ ALSO Inflation: the brands have reduced their margins more than the industrials
Meeting in Bercy with industrialists on Wednesday
In Le Parisien, Arnaud Rousseau was also in favor of another tool that the executive intends to use to twist the arm of industrialists. "The Name and shame and a new study on the margins of the General Inspectorate of Finance are two tools that everyone will be able to consult," said Christiane Lambert's successor. In an interview with La Tribune published this week, Bruno Le Maire reported having "asked the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) to update their study on the margins of distributors and large manufacturers". The first edition of this study, sent to the executive last November, had concluded the absence of "profiteers of inflation in the food sector", had reported at the time the Minister of the Economy.
Bruno Le Maire, who also waved the tax threat to recover possible "undue margins", must receive again the industrialists Wednesday at Bercy, after having gathered the representatives of the large distribution Thursday. Always with the same objective in mind: to force them to reopen discussions on tariffs with distributors, in order to deflate the labels on the shelves.
The discussions at Bercy promise in any case to be tense. On Franceinfo Thursday, the president of the National Association of Food Industries (Ania) Jean-Philippe André did not hide his anger at the accusation of "profiteers of inflation". "It's a little music that becomes quite unbearable," he said. On the threat to give the names of non-cooperative industrialists, "I am not sure that doing 'name and shame' brings anything and improves public debate," he had judged on BFM Business the day before.