“Redflation”, the practice by which some companies reduce the content of packaging while maintaining prices, will be banned in France from November, announced Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne.
“We are going to ban it. Starting in November, all products subject to changes in quantity will have to indicate this on the labels so as not to further deceive the consumer,” Borne advanced in an interview published this Sunday by the newspaper. Le Parisien and collected by EFE.
This is an increasingly widespread practice in France, as reported by consumer organizations in recent weeks after carrying out investigative visits to supermarkets.
They add that in a good number of cases the packed volume decreases, and the price not only does not decrease but even increases. A phenomenon that has occurred on practically all supermarket shelves, such as ice cream, drinks and all types of food.
The distribution chain Carrefourthe most important in France, began last week to mark the affected products on its own, in an attempt to show that the responsibility lies with the manufacturer.
Carrefour’s labels say: “This product has reduced its content and increased its price”, but the organization “60 million consumers” criticized that some of the company’s items have also decreased their volume without lowering the price.
The prime minister also announced that fuel distributors will be able to sell products at a loss – canceling a ban that dates back to 1963 – to try to break the fuel inflationary spiral.
This authorization will be extended “for a period limited to a few months,” said Borne, who foresees “tangible results” for consumers without the Government having to subsidize fuel as it did last year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
This year the price of fuel has risen as a result of the rise in oil prices due to production cuts by some large producing countries in OPEC and its allies (OPEC+), led by Saudi Arabia.
