“French Government and Retailers Agree to Extend Anti-Inflation Measures”

Representatives of large retailers were gathered around Bruno Le Maire this morning in Bercy. They have expressed their agreement to extend the anti-inflation quarter system put in place nearly two months ago.

In exceptional circumstances, exceptional measures. Food inflation should remain strong in the coming weeks, enough to encourage Bruno Le Maire not to stop the anti-inflation quarter on June 15. For several days, the Minister of Economy and Finance has repeatedly reaffirmed his desire to maintain the system put in place in mid-March under the threat of a spike in inflation on the food shelves.

“I consider this anti-inflation quarter a success, that it has allowed millions of our compatriots to have access to food products whose prices have fallen by 13% in recent weeks,” said the boss of Bercy this morning.

“It must not stop on June 15, we must find a way to extend this operation in one form or another”

System U maintains its 150 products at cost price until the end of the year

Unsurprisingly, the subject was discussed during the meeting of the actors of the large distribution in Bercy this Thursday at which were notably present Michel-Edouard Leclerc (E. Leclerc), Thierry Cotillard (Mousquetaires) or Dominique Schelcher (Système U) .

In the midst of the big theme of the reopening of trade negotiations with industrialists, the latter came out in favor of an extension of the anti-inflation quarter despite a high cost, estimated at around ten million euros. The terms of this measure will be determined later, but the government recently put forward the idea of ​​including school supplies, the prices of which have increased by 3 to 4%. According to the distributors, the extension to this range of products would not be necessary.

Barely hours after the end of the meeting, System U published a press release to confirm the extension of its anti-inflation operation: 150 of the brand’s products will be offered at cost price until the end of the year.

The store network headed by Dominique Schelcher was the first to introduce an anti-inflation system, on February 1st. “The selling prices of the products contained in these baskets have fallen by around 5% on average and up to 7% at Système U, recalls the press release. Indeed, our customers measure the impact of this effort: the sales of these products are up 35%.”