Orange with Media Services, published on Wednesday, July 27, 2022 at 5:00 p.m.
How to avoid abusive behavior in the midst of soaring prices? MPs tasked with looking into inflation said on Wednesday 27 July that not being able at this stage to say whether suspicious practices contribute to the current price rise, while calling for increased vigilance.
The rapporteurs of the working group set up by the Economic Affairs Committee, Aurélie Trouvou (LFI) and Xavier Albertini (Horizons), wished continue their investigations at the start of the school yearpointing out that the peak of inflation was yet to come.
Food prices studied
On the sensitive issue of possible “speculators”, particularly with regard to agricultural prices and food products, “our work has not, in my view, led to the conclusion of systemic abusive behavior from manufacturers or distributors,” said Xavier Albertini before the commission.
Nevertheless, “the current situation seems to justify further monitoringon the part of the government, of the behavior of each other”, he underlined. Aurélie Trouvou declared that “for the moment, the data do not allow us to answer in a firm way” on the question of the speculation.
While emphasizing that the working group had already auditioned no less than 38 personalities, she indicated thatan in-depth investigation of this subject required more time and lamented the difficulty in obtaining figures. “We must go much further in the obligations of transparency” imposed on economic actors, she wished.
“Suspicious” increases requested by manufacturers
At the end of June, the chairman of the strategic committee for E. Leclerc stores, Michel-Edouard Leclerc, caused a sensation by speaking of “suspicious” increases requested by manufacturers as part of renegotiations on the prices of foodstuffs intended for supermarkets. However, a Senate report published on July 19 concluded that, with the exception of a few “specific cases”, there was no no observed “widespread phenomenon of excessive increases”.
The two deputies for their part make the diagnosis of inflation (5.8% over one year in June) weighing first on the most modest households, and support a “food voucher” favoring quality products. It is necessary to avoid that “the postponements of consumption (due to the rise in prices) do not occur on imported products of poor quality”, underlined Xavier Albertini.
Aurélie Trouvé wanted the food check to be “targeted on short circuits and organic“, worrying about seeing “inflation put organic in difficulty” because of its higher price.