According to Rewe boss Lionel Souque, there is no end in sight to the price increases in the German food trade. “The manufacturers are currently announcing new price increases to us every week,” said the manager on Wednesday evening at the Business Journalists’ Association in Düsseldorf. The background to this is the rising energy, raw material, logistics and personnel costs.
“We don’t wave through every price increase, but check whether it is understandable,” said Souque. The retail giant defends itself decisively if it considers the surcharges to be unjustified. Especially among the multinational consumer goods manufacturers there are free riders who want to benefit from the current price wave. “We’re fighting it brutally,” said Souque.
The manager emphasized that Rewe itself is also feeling the dramatic rise in energy costs. For a supermarket with 1000 square meters, they would have increased from 80,000 euros a year to 140,000 euros.
According to Souque, Rewe does not want to pass on all price increases to customers. The company will forego a gross profit in the mid three-digit million range this year in order to at least limit the price increases somewhat.
