Supermarket chain Colruyt partly halts orders from JDE Peet's over price dispute
18/12/2024 09:24
By Alban Kacher
Dec 18 (Reuters) - Colruyt COLR.BR has halted some of
its orders from JDE Peet's JDEP.AS after the Dutch coffee
company asked for further price hikes for its products due to
the global rise in coffee prices, the Belgian supermarket chain
said on Wednesday.
The decision comes in connection with Colruyt's yearly
negotiation round with its suppliers. While the retailer went
along with JDE's price hike request last summer, the recent
negotiations have proven more difficult, Colruyt said in an
emailed statement to Reuters.
"When we look at the price increase Jacobs Douwe Egberts is
asking today, we do not think it is justifiable," it said,
adding that the talks were still underway and it was confident
they would eventually reach an agreement.
The temporary interruption of orders for now concerns a
limited number of products, namely Douwe Egberts dessert ground,
dessert beans, Senseo cappuccino and Jacquemotte moka, Colruyt
said.
JDE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Global prices for raw coffee KCc2 soared to record highs
last week and are up some 80% this year as adverse weather in
Brazil and Vietnam, the world's top coffee growers, has hit the
crop outlook, with consumers internationally likely to feel the
pinch by as early as the end of March.
JDE Peet's has said it would be raising prices for roast and
ground, whole beans, soluble, capsules and cappuccino in Brazil,
according two traders who saw confidential documents sent to the
company's clients.
(Reporting by Alban Kacher in Gdansk; editing by Milla Nissi)
((alban.kacher@thomsonreuters.com))