Carrefour suspends Pepsi sales due to price hike

Supermarkets began displaying in-store signs on Thursday to inform customers of the decision, which affects products such as Pepsi soda, Doritos and Quaker cereal. Pepsi said it would try to continue negotiations in "good faith."

It comes as France continues to struggle with uncomfortably sharp increases in food prices. According to Statistics Korea's latest report, food prices in December rose 7.1 percent from last year.

Last year, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire threatened big food companies with a special tax on "unfair" profits, urging them to cut prices. The government has also postponed until this month the deadline for price negotiations between food companies and supermarkets to resolve the issue.

Pepsi has raised its prices in recent years to reflect rising costs. Last October, it said it expected further growth in 2024.

The company is also engaging in what critics call "downsizing." That means reducing the size of the packages you sell, but not lowering the price by the same percentage. Carrefour, France's second largest grocer, is one of the leading retailers to oppose the practice.

In September last year, French supermarkets applied "retractable" labels to certain products, including Pepsi's Lipton iced tea. "Due to unacceptable price increases, we are no longer selling this brand," says a new note about Pepsi products, a photo the company shared on LinkedIn.

Despite the price war, French consumers can still buy Pepsi products off the shelves, a spokesman told the news agency. Pepsi said it had been in negotiations with Carrefour for several months.

"We will continue to make good faith efforts to ensure product availability in the future," the company said. The controversy over public gifts is unusual but not unprecedented.

In 2022, Tesco clashed with Kraft Heinz over price increases on staples such as beans, ketchup, and tomato soup. German food manufacturers Edeka and Rewe have stopped selling some products from the manufacturer Mars due to price increases.

Edeka also reported a dispute with Pepsi last year, and last year a dispute between chocolate maker Milka Mondelez and Belgian supermarket Coluit led to a supply shortage.