LDC, France’s largest poultry group, will need to raise its prices by around 10 per cent next year to cover energy and other costs after already increasing prices by a third since last year, the company said Nov. 23.
Food prices in France rose 12 per cent year-on-year in October, making food a main contributor, along with energy, to record overall inflation in the euro zone’s second-largest economy.
LDC has secured price increases totalling 35 per cent from supermarkets over the past 18 months, which should cover additional costs led by a jump in prices of cereals used in poultry feed, chief executive Philippe Gelin told reporters during a first-half results presentation.
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The price rises supported a 14 per cent increase in group sales, even as volumes declined due to a bird flu crisis in France, and helped keep LDC’s operating margin steady, the group said.
With grain markets easing, LDC was focused on absorbing a jump in energy costs after negotiating electricity prices for 2023 that were more than three times those paid this year, Gelin said.
