Faced with competition from foreign large stores, especially French, the Belgian distribution sector will no longer be able to resist for very long, predicts Dominique Michel, director of Comeos, the Belgian trade and services federation. Faced with a very sharp rise in prices, consumers in the kingdom have never purchased so much in neighboring France. For food, they spent 1.7 billion euros in the space of one year, an increase of 40% compared to 2019, laments Mr. Michel.
In three provinces of Wallonia bordering France (Hainaut, Namur and Luxembourg), the increase even reached 83%. And, as nearly one in three Walloons lives less than 20 kilometers from the border, it is likely that the rush to French supermarkets of customers frightened by the difference in prices will not stop.
Comeos estimates that nearly 40% of Belgians will now do their shopping abroad, especially in France.
“200 to 300 euros saved each month”
In Roncq, Villeneuve-d’Ascq or Maubeuge, in the French department of Nord, the images are the same: in the parking lots of supermarkets, the trunks of numerous Belgian cars are filled with packs of water and milk, cans laundry, canned goods and cheeses. “A market here means 200 to 300 euros saved each month”, says Annie, met at the Auchan hypermarket in Louvroil, near Maubeuge. She lives 35 kilometers away but no longer hesitates to produce in France “from 80% to 90%” of his purchases. Next to it, a couple unloads three carts, filled exclusively with mineral water. “40 packs is 100 euros in my pocket. Incomprehensible…”explains Robert, who lives in Erquelinnes, a stone’s throw away, on the other side of the border.
A weekly shopping trolley in France costs, on average, 9% less than in Belgium, 19% if we focus on major brands. And a comparison between the average prices of a Belgian chain and a French chain indicated, a few weeks ago, differences of 27% on a cleanser, 34.7% on frozen foods, 32.8% on a sachet of animal food and 21.4% on a red wine.
The ability of French brands to influence producers and brands or the measures taken by the French government to contain the prices of basic products and energy explain this difference. Only partly, because there are other factors, underlines the boss of Comeos.
Salary costs first: “In Belgium, a cashier earns 20% more than in France. And the system of automatic indexation of salaries to inflation recently led to an increase in salaries of 11%, when it was limited to 5% among our neighbors., says Dominique Michel. Taxes then: “A tax on plastics cost us 350 million, another on packaging will cost 60 million. »
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