European supermarket chain Carrefour is pulling PepsiCo products from its shelves, citing “unacceptable” price increases as the reason for the decision.
This issue is not unique to Carrefour; other major companies in the industry have also expressed concerns over similar price hikes.
Reports indicate that Carrefour, which operates over 12,000 stores globally, began removing PepsiCo products such as Pepsi, 7 Up, Lipton tea, Quaker foods, Doritos, and Lays chips from its shelves in France, Italy, Spain, and Belgium.
A spokesperson for Carrefour told that the supermarket chain has added warning labels on its shelves to inform customers about the reason behind the removal of these products.
Carrefour had already raised concerns about rising food costs and introduced price warnings in September, urging manufacturers to reduce their prices.
The company placed labels on certain products stating: “This product has seen its volume or weight fall and the effective price by the supplier rise.”
Michel-Edouard Leclerc, CEO of rival supermarket chain E. Leclerc, also publicly criticized the price hikes from suppliers in a recent LinkedIn post.
According to an English translation of his post, Leclerc said, “We must convince these major suppliers who made the mistake of increasing their prices too much, to lower them now, or to moderate them.
We must return to more reasonable, more transparent, and better-distributed cost impacts.”
PepsiCo informed The Wall Street Journal that it has been in discussions with Carrefour for several months and is engaging in “good faith” to try to keep its products available in Carrefour stores.
