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Loblaw带头反对加拿大"限价准则”威胁10亿成本全转嫁老百姓
2023年11月08日 加国无忧 哈科
今年一月，加拿大农业部和农业食品部就新法规“杂货行为准则”的进展发表联合声明。该法规旨在提高食品杂货业的透明度和公平性，这给那些受到食品价格失控沉重打击的人带来了一线希望。要全面介入杂货店定价，不能随便涨价。
随着加拿大首个“食品杂货行为准则”即将完成制定，加拿大食品行业最大的参与者却提出意见，该准则可能会加剧食品通胀。
Loblaw公司在11月1日发给制定该准则的指导委员会和行业小组委员会成员的一封信中表示，他们担心该准则会“使加拿大人的食品价格上涨超过10亿元”，加拿大通讯社获得了这封信。
首席财务官Richard Dufresne在信中写道，Loblaw不能以目前的形式支持该准则，并要求召开一次行业小组委员会的特别会议，以解决Loblaw的担忧。
Loblaw发言人Catherine Thomas在一份声明中表示，该草案面临“一系列挑战”，该杂货商认为这可能会危及产品的供应和食品价格的上涨。Loblaw的声明还提到了潜在的“10亿元成本”。Thomas表示，这是Loblaw客户要承担的额外成本。
Loblaw并不是唯一一家对该法规表示担忧的杂货商。沃尔玛加拿大公司发言人Sarah Kennedy在10月下旬的一封电子邮件中表示，该公司支持有利于消费者的举措，但它“意识到增加不必要的负担，可能会增加加拿大人的食品成本，尤其是在通货膨胀时期。”
在连续的高通胀和一系列的加息侵蚀了家庭预算之后，食品杂货商一直受到联邦政府稳定食品价格的压力。
Michael Graydon是加拿大食品、健康和消费品协会的首席执行官，也是制定该准则的指导委员会的联合主席，他敦促两家公司加入该准则。他说，没有他们的参与，该准则的效力将会降低。
“注册，成为积极的参与者，参与其中。”
“但如果只是继续坐在场边，在这个过程中泼冷水······这并不符合行业的最佳利益。”
Graydon说，该准则即将完成，计划在2024年第一季度末之前让它和监督它的非营利组织建立并运行。
Loblaw的信中提到了该法规草案的特定部分，称这将使零售商更难追究供应商的责任，使供应商与零售商之间的关系缺乏确定性。并对价格、供应和折扣计划构成风险。
Graydon说，委员会不想在媒体上讨论Loblaw信的要点，而更愿意在即将举行的会议上直接与他们讨论。
然而，他和加拿大独立杂货商联合会高级副总裁、该委员会成员Gary Sands否认了Loblaw所说的10亿元的数字。
Graydon说：“绝对没有证据表明，该法规会提高食品价格，或对零售商满足消费者需求的能力产生负面影响。”
Sands说，如果他认为该准则会导致通货膨胀，他也会发出警报。但“我们不相信这是真的。”
制定该准则的委员会是为了响应行业的呼吁，解决大型杂货零售商向供应商收取费用的问题，这一问题于2020年公开浮出水面。那一年，沃尔玛加拿大公司（Walmart Canada）宣布涨价，代表Metro公司(Metro Inc.)的一个全国性采购团体告诉供应商，预计也会涨价。不久之后，Loblaw也提高了收费。
University of Guelph食品经济学教授Michael von Massow说，看到市场上最大的两家公司——一家是加拿大最大的食品杂货商，另一家是美国的主要企业对行为准则表示担忧，这并不奇怪。
"坦率地说，他们可能损失最大。”
Metro公司，以及Sobeys的母公司Empire Co. Ltd.在周一的声明中重申了它们将采用该准则的承诺。加拿大Costco没有回应采访请求。
如果最终，Loblaw和/或沃尔玛加拿大决定不签署该准则，Graydon表示，可能需要另一条途径来解决该行业的问题。
加拿大政府力推新规：超市、杂货商店不能“任性”涨价了！
现在，食品价格和超市、杂货店暴涨的利润已经让加拿大人气愤不已，但情况很快就会好转，因为加拿大联邦政府现在离实施首个“杂货行为准则”又近了一步。
最近，37加元的鸡胸肉登上了各大新闻媒体的头条。这则新闻讲述了一个消费者被食品价格困扰的故事，有些人甚至被迫偷窃以度过难关。
就在上周五，加拿大农业部和农业食品部就新法规“杂货行为准则”的进展发表联合声明。该法规旨在提高食品杂货业的透明度和公平性，这给那些受到食品价格失控沉重打击的人带来了一线希望。
“我们要赞扬农业食品行业在制定加拿大首个食品杂货行为准则方面取得的实质性进展，”联邦农业和农业食品部长Marie-Claude Bibeau和加拿大农业部部长André Lamontagne说。
声明继续说：“我们已经为这项计划投入了大量的时间和精力，我们要感谢你们所有人，因为我们正在朝着它的正式实施迈进。”
即将出台“杂货行为准则”旨在提高食品行业“透明度、可预测性和公平交易”。
当局声称这些变化将使杂货业和消费者都受益，但承认该准则不会解决食品供应链面临的所有压力。
据报道，遵守新法规是强制性的，加拿大农业和农业食品部的声明“强烈鼓励所有农业食品组织和行业在未来几周内展开磋商”。
然而，加拿大在这方面做得有点晚了，2010年，英国和澳大利亚都制定了类似的法规。
Loblaw raises the affordability alarm as grocery code of conduct nears completion
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/loblaw-raises-affordability-alarm-grocery-205145407.html
Loblaw Companies Ltd. said it’s worried the code could "raise food prices for Canadians by more than $1 billion" in a letter sent to members of both the steering committee developing the code and the industry sub-committee on Nov. 1, and obtained by The Canadian Press.
The grocer cannot endorse the code in its current form, wrote chief financial officer Richard Dufresne in the letter, requesting a special meeting of the industry sub-committee to address Loblaw's concerns.
In a statement, Loblaw spokeswoman Catherine Thomas said the draft code has "a number of challenges," which the grocer believes could risk product availability and increasing food prices. The Loblaw statement also mentioned the potential "$1 billion in costs," which Thomas said refers to extra costs for Loblaw customers.
Loblaw isn’t the only grocer to express concern about the code. Walmart Canada spokeswoman Sarah Kennedy said in an email in late October that the company supports initiatives benefitting customers but it’s "conscious of adding unnecessary burdens that could increase the cost of food for Canadians, especially during inflationary times."
Grocers have been under pressure from the federal government to stabilize food prices after a run of high inflation and a series of interest rate hikes have eaten into household budgets.
Michael Graydon, CEO of the Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada association and co-chair of the steering committee developing the code, urged the two companies to give the code a chance. Without them on board, the code will be less effective, he said.
"Sign on, be active participants, be engaged," Graydon said, noting the code will be reviewed after its launch.
"But to just continue to sit on the sidelines and throw rocks at the process ... it’s not in the best interest of the industry."
The code is near completion, Graydon said, with plans to have it and the non-profit organization overseeing it up and running by the end of the first quarter of 2024.
Loblaw’s letter mentions specific sections of the draft code, saying it would make it harder for retailers to hold suppliers accountable, create a lack of certainty in the supplier-retailer relationship, and pose risks to prices, availability and discount programs.
Graydon said the committee doesn’t want to negotiate the points of Loblaw’s letter in the media, and would prefer to discuss it directly with them in an upcoming meeting.
However, he and Gary Sands, senior vice-president at the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers and a member of the committee, pushed back on the $1-billion figure cited by Loblaw.
“There is absolutely no evidence to suggest the code would either raise food prices or negatively impact retailers’ ability to meet consumer needs,” said Graydon.
Sands said if he thought the code would be inflationary, he would raise the alarm too — but “we just don’t believe that that’s true.”
The committee developing the code was created in response to calls from the industry to address fees that large grocery retailers charge suppliers, an issue that surfaced publicly in 2020. That year, Walmart Canada announced a fee hike, and a national buying group representing Metro Inc. told suppliers it would expect the same. Not long after, Loblaw also raised its fees.
Michael von Massow, a food economy professor at the University of Guelph, said it’s not surprising to see two of the biggest names in the market — one the largest Canadian grocer, the other a major U.S. player — voicing concerns over the code of conduct.
“They, frankly, probably have the most to lose,” he said.
Metro and Empire Co. Ltd., which owns Sobeys, affirmed their commitment to adopting the code in statements Monday. Costco Canada did not respond to a request for comment.
If in the end, Loblaw and/or Walmart Canada decide not to sign on to the code, Graydon said another route may be necessary to address the sector's issues.
“I think we will need to have some very interesting conversations with a number of governments around regulation,” he said.
Quebec’s agriculture and food minister André Lamontagne, who co-chaired a working group announced in 2020 to look at the fees charged to suppliers by retailers, said it’s taken several years of rigorous work to get the code to the point it’s at today.
A report by that group in July 2021 noted a regulated or legislated approach to dealing with these fees would require provincial action, but that this could lead to a patchwork approach.
Lamontagne wouldn’t say whether Quebec will step in if the grocers don’t all agree to the code.
“I am always an optimist,” he said in an interview, conducted in French.
The federal food minister, too, wouldn’t comment on whether regulation might be necessary.
“In July, Federal, Provincial, and Territorial Ministers were briefed on the significant progress made during industry consultations held in May 2023, and remain united in calling for all key players in the industry, including large retailers, to participate in and support the operation of the Code,” said agri-food minister Lawrence MacAulay in an email.
But Von Massow said there has been, and likely still is, political appetite to step in with regulation if the code falls apart.
“I think that the current environment increases the appetite for doing that, and provides the perception that governments are doing something about affordability,” he said.
Graydon thinks with all the pressure on retailers to stabilize food prices and the accusations of ‘greedflation’ from consumers and politicians alike, it could also be a bad move for the grocers to say no to the code.
“I think it will be a public relations disaster for them,” he said.
— With files from Brett Bundale
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2023.
Companies in this story: (TSX:L, TSX:MRU, TSX:EMP.A)
Rosa Saba, The Canadian Press
