France warns big food firms over bloated profits as wholesale price pressures ease

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said large food companies are continuing to boost their profits.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said large food companies are continuing to boost their profits margins and called on them to renegotiate with retailers in the coming weeks to pass on lower costs or face tougher measures from the French government.

“Today, we’re seeing wheat prices come down and shipping costs drop,” Mr Le Maire said “I’d like to see that in shopping baskets, too.” 

If negotiations haven’t restarted by the end of May, Mr Le Maire said he would call both sides to a meeting at the finance ministry, adding that the government had previously found a way of clawing back excess profits from energy companies.

“I will look at all solutions available to get big industrial companies to return to the negotiating table and pass on the reduction in production costs,” Mr Le Maire said.

The French government won’t let major industrial groups make unwarranted margins at the expense of consumers at a time when wholesale prices are falling, he added. 

The comments come as economists increasingly focus on the rising profit margins of global companies despite the huge drop in the cost of worldwide container freight and global grain prices since the early months of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.     

Global forecasters such as the International Monetary Fund have highlighted the  "sticky" nature of inflation despite the sharp decline in wholesale energy costs. 

Bloomberg and Irish Examiner