Published: January 4, 2024 at 8:12 pm ET
One of the world's largest supermarket chains is pulling popular PepsiCo Inc. products from its shelves in Europe because of their high prices.
France-based Carrefour SA FR:CA, which operates more than 12,000 supermarkets worldwide, on Thursday began selling items such as Doritos and Lays chips, Pepsi and 7-Up soda, Lipton tea and Quaker foods from stores in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium, according to multiple news reports.
“We…
One of the world's largest supermarket chains is pulling popular PepsiCo Inc. products from its shelves in Europe because of their high prices.
France-based Carrefour SA CA, which operates more than 12,000 supermarkets worldwide, began removing items such as Doritos and Lays chips, Pepsi and 7-Up soda, Lipton tea and Quaker foods from stores on Thursday in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium to remove several news reports.
“We are no longer selling this brand due to unacceptable price increases. “We apologize for any inconvenience,” the signs on the shelves read, according to CNN.
The move comes as food manufacturers and retailers – particularly in Europe – battle rising prices. Food inflation has risen particularly sharply in France, where the government has announced it will push for price cuts.
Carrefour has claimed that despite falling raw material costs, food manufacturers are keeping prices high for their own benefit. Last fall, the company tried to embarrass some of its suppliers by slapping “shrinkflation” labels on certain products and alerting consumers that manufacturers had reduced package sizes, driving up their prices.
Read more: “Greed inflation” is replacing inflation as companies raise prices to make bigger profits, a report says
“We have been in discussions with Carrefour for many months and will continue to engage in good faith to ensure our products are available,” PepsiCo told PEP
said in a media statement on Thursday.
Neither PepsiCo nor Carrefour immediately responded to requests for further comment.
At the company's earnings call in October, PepsiCo Chief Executive Ramon Laguarta said prices are expected to remain elevated in 2024 due to “higher inflation” in his business, according to a FactSet transcript.
PepsiCo beat analysts' expectations with its third-quarter earnings. Sales rose to $23.453 billion from $21.971 billion a year ago. Wedbush analysts said at the time that sales growth was “entirely price-driven.”
PepsiCo shares have fallen about 3% compared to the S&P 500 over the past 12 months
SPX 23% gain.