During the inaugural conference of the 11th edition of Marca by BolognaFiere in Bologna, there was talk of the shopping trolley emergency. «Some things have been done, I appreciated the willingness of the distribution to try to control prices. Our government is intervening as much as possible – says Francesco Lollobrigida, Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests -. We are also looking into discussions with large-scale distribution, with sector organizations, to make the best use, for example, of the 500 million that we have allocated to support the purchasing power of the people most in difficulty”.
Marco Pedroni, president of the Adm (Modern Distribution Association) for his part expresses his desire to contribute to this initiative: «We are at the table to give a real hand on the 500 million for that lower range of the poor. We ask you to support the purchasing power of 50% of Italian families who are in crisis or in some difficulty». On which instruments to employ Pedroni prefers to let the Government choose. “You choose them. They could be the tax wedge, an intervention on VAT for consumer goods, but in any case it is very important to stay close to this part. As well as, we think, that if you classified us as energy-intensive companies, since we are, this would lend a hand to introduce an improvement in the things we could do for our families ».
Crucially are the continuous double-digit increases in the prices of food products and those of packaged consumer goods. A phenomenon that in the second half of 2022 accentuated the increases whose trend continued in the new year. In January, the new price lists of over 400 large-scale retail suppliers came into force and insiders explain that further increases are expected in February and May. The price increases were indirect protagonists of the Marca 2023 opening conference in which Valerio De Molli, managing partner and CEO of The European House-Ambrosetti presented some slides which highlighted how modern distribution has so far tried to act as a shock absorber, absorbing a part of the increases recorded wholesale.
In September 2022, if the wholesale price per liter increased by 38%, the shelf price increased by 13.7%. Similarly, eggs mark a +37% which becomes a +16.6%, vegetables see a passage from 32.4% to 14.3%, wholesale bread marks a 23.3% which at the supermarket checkout becomes a +14.3%. Heavy increases but the shock absorber effect of the large-scale distribution in 2022 allowed families to save an average of 77 euros per month. This year the large-scale distribution has already put its hands on saying it is not able to absorb other price increases while the alarm is sounding a drop in sales volumes.