The general manager of Coles has issued a terrible warning, foreshadowing the imminent rise in grocery prices in the supermarket chain.
The CEO of Coles has foreshadowed the imminent rise in grocery prices in the supermarket chain, as it struggles with rising supplier costs and severe labor shortages.
Addressing attendees at the Australian Global Food Forum on Wednesday, Coles CEO Steven Cain revealed that he had received a staggering number of requests for supplies to raise prices.
“While I’m sitting here today, we’ve received five times as many requests for price increases as we did last year. Five times,” Mr. Cain said. The Australian reported.
“It simply came to our notice then. Neither the two percent nor the three percent is requested, so there is, you know, the usual “pig in the python” that tries to make its way through the system, it remains to be seen if things ‘plateau or if they descend slowly. . ”
The aggravating pressure on the second largest supermarket chain in the country was the extreme difficulty of stores to acquire and maintain a steady volume of enthusiastic workers.
“We have a labor crisis in Australia, in many, many sectors. It has been aggravated by what is happening with Covid and the flu. Our absenteeism today is doubly normal with Covid, the flu and the turnover rate. in most industries it is growing, “he said.
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Cain said a Coles store manager told him last week that they had lost an employee due to a dishwasher job that paid $ 80,000 a year.
Labor cost increases “would flow through the system” in the next 12 months, he added.
Customers directly affected by rising shelf prices are likely to start opting for more affordable frozen and canned options instead of fresh produce, Cain said.
Woolworths Group CEO Brad Banducci said earlier this year that price increases of two to three percent had been inevitable.
He said he would not be surprised if suppliers contacted him again to ask for more price increases.
Retail giants were struggling with rising manufacturers due to higher staff costs, staff shortages, Covid-19 standards and rising commodity and energy prices, and the need for provide affordable food to customers.
“It has now reached a point where the level of costs that is now being reached is just astronomical and companies really can’t contain it themselves and are in negotiations with retailers to pass it on,” he said. head of the Australian Food and Grocery Council. said executive Tanya Barden, according to the publication.
Mr Cain said basic shelf prices would eventually “soften”.
“We hope that some parts of the meat industry will start to soften after years and years of increases, and obviously once this next round of products is planted, we hope it will be a very intense year for the farming community because there is “a lot more moisture around and then we will see that these prices also start to moderate,” he said.
Short-term availability of weather-affected products is also expected to improve in the coming weeks and months, Cain said.
“Every week we have more products on the shelves. Obviously, there are still problems, especially with international freight and … agriculture, especially in New South Wales and South Queensland.
“Today it is very difficult to get lettuce, it is very difficult to get truss tomatoes … and then you get other products such as bananas, grapes where there is more supply and prices have dropped in the last year.
“So it’s a little bit right, but on average every week it’s getting better. But it’s fragile.”