Since the beginning of this week, Carrefour has been labeling 26 products on its shelves in France with the words: "This product has been reduced in size or weight, resulting in an increase in the actual price."

For example, a bottle of Lipton peach water (owned by PepsiCo) has gone from 1.5 liters to 1.25 liters, making it 40% more expensive per liter. Nestle’s Guigoz formula has gone from 900 grams to 830 grams. Unilever’s Viennetta ice cream has gone from 350 grams to 320 grams.

"Our aim is to remind manufacturers to rethink their pricing strategy," Stefen Bompais, director of customer communications at Carrefour, told Reuters.

Carrefour CEO Alexandre Bompard said consumer goods companies were not cooperating in cutting prices on thousands of essential products, despite falling input costs. In June, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire also met with 75 retailers and consumer groups to urge them to cut prices. At a meeting last month, he named Unilever, Nestlé and PepsiCo as among the companies that had not cut prices.

A spokesperson for chocolate maker Lindt explained that it raised its average price by 9.3% due to rising local costs. "We are still trying to offset the cost increase by increasing efficiency as much as possible. So we are just passing on the price increase that we cannot compensate for to our customers," the spokesperson said.

Like other European countries, France has been trying for months to support consumers during a period of inflation, asking big businesses to keep or reduce prices on food and transport. However, the results have been mixed.

Bompais said the warning labels will be in place in all Carrefour stores in France, until suppliers agree to lower prices. The supermarket may also extend the warnings to other products, but has no plans to expand to other countries.

Ha Thu (according to Reuters)