The increase in food prices in France is likely to ease significantly from January due to negotiations between retailers and producers, but the period of stable prices has come to an end, warned Carrefour’s CEO Alexandre Bompard. Inflation is expected to weaken significantly from January, Bompard said on Sunday to BFM television, thanks to the government’s initiative to shift regular negotiations between retailers and producers by six months, from March to September.
The rise in food prices is expected to drop significantly below 10 percent, to around five percent, added the chairman and CEO of the French retail chain.
In August, food prices rose by 11.1 percent, while the inflation rate was 4.8 percent.
Last week, Bompard warned that due to high prices, the French have significantly reduced their purchases of basic necessities. Retailers and producers in France are blaming each other, while the government reminds that the prices of numerous raw materials have fallen in recent months.
The head of Carrefour warns, however, that due to climatic and geopolitical factors, food prices will rise more strongly in the coming years than in previous decades, when their growth varied between zero and one percent.
I believe that the period of stable food prices has come to an end, he stated.
