The Chief Executive of Carrefour, the French based retailer that claims to be the second biggest in the world (after Walmart) said at the World Retail Congress in Barcelona that the retail industry is facing its most significant challenges for a generation.
Jose Luis Duran, for it was he, pointed to cost inflation in commodities and the resulting inflation in selling prices as particularly difficult issues. "There is volatility and confusion", he is quoted as saying. "Confusion for our team, confusion for our customers and confusion for our business partners." Carrefour has an annual turnover turnover of some Euro102bill.
Well, M. Duran, join the club. That's what its been like for your farmer suppliers for several years. Some of them have squeezed out costs in order to continue supplying you at lower and lower prices. Others have been forced out of business by the unremitting pressure you and your kind have placed them under. Moreover, the fact that many producers have gone is one of the reasons for the shortage in the market place and the higher prices you now have to pay.
I take no pleasure in pointing these things out. For I am aware that you and other powerful retailers will simply increase your pressure on suppliers in order to maintain your margins. But I hope even you in your exalted position will now realise how it feels when, as you put it "costs grow faster than prices". We farmers know it well.