Demonstrators in Paris: Inflation is also fueling dissatisfaction.
Image: EPA
High food inflation has alarmed the French. The debate has picked up speed, as has the blame game.
Michel-Édouard Leclerc rarely minces his words. But last week, the boss and founder’s son of France’s largest supermarket chain of the same name shared on the radio station France Inter a touch stronger against all those who, in his eyes, turn inflation into a business. “The manufacturers are not transparent,” he wedged towards the food industry. Some price increases remained a mystery to him, he never understood why pasta should suddenly cost 40 percent more.
“We pay a lot for food at a price that doesn’t necessarily benefit the farms,” Leclerc continued and had no hesitation in naming horses and riders. “Retailers buy very little from the farm, we buy from big industrial companies, specifically Nestlé and Danone, and they are not transparent.” Manufacturers used the war in Ukraine as an excuse to raise prices.