Groceries in the Netherlands are expected to get more expensive this year, especially when it comes to A-brands as several manufacturers request higher purchasing prices. To tackle these rising grocery prices, Dutch supermarkets have called for using English product labels to bring down costs.
In a round table conference in Oegstgeest last week, the CEOs of Plus and Jumbo warned that due to manufacturers asking for higher purchasing prices, several A-brand products will see more substantial price increases than those of private labels, reported RTL Nieuws. A-brands are those that are easily recognised by consumers as being of high quality with a strong reputation, such as Coca-Cola.
According to Plus CEO Aart van Haren, the same thing happened last year and the same pattern is expected this year. “If the purchase price of a private label has to increase by 5 percent due to higher wages or energy, they are transparent about it. A producer of an A-brand of the same product calmly tells us that the product has to increase in price by 9 percent,” he explained.
For example, some manufacturers are looking to increase purchase prices by 20 percent due to the high costs of raw materials for milk. It is not certain which A-brands do this and for which products. "I think it happens throughout the entire range, but it will be more extreme in one category than the other."
During the same round table, leaders of Plus, Jumbo and Picnic advocated for uniform English labelling of products across the European Union. Due to current regulations, international manufacturers are required to include information in the Dutch language on products sold in the Netherlands, contributing to higher prices compared to supermarkets in neighbouring countries whose regulations are not as strict.
Dutch supermarket executives believe that by putting an end to this and having English product labels in the Netherlands, groceries will not need to be so expensive, especially for A-brands. "I can imagine that, as a legislator, you might say there should be an English-language label, and the supplier could include a QR code that links consumers to a website with all the languages," said van Haren.
While Malik Azmani, a member of the European Parliament, has shown interest in discussing the proposal, he noted that new legislation could take a few years to pass.
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