French food manufacturers have accepted a price cut following negotiations with retailers, but are well placed to ride out global economic turbulence, according to their leading industry body (ANIA).

ANIA President Jean-Rene Buisson told a news conference this week that major difficulties were not on the horizon for most food manufacturers as supermarkets post strong growth.

“There’s no objective reason to be pessimistic. Overall, there’s no reason why consumption shouldn’t hold up,” he said, according to Reuters.

Margins, which were pushed to the limit by soaring food commodity prices last year, remained tight, however, following an agreement with retailers to reduce prices by 1-2 per cent, on average.

The group, which represents almost all food manufacturers in France, said margins were typically between 1.5 and 2 per cent for the larger corporations and 0.5 – 1.5 per cent for the majority of smaller firms.

Food makers saw sales rise 5.5 per cent to 162.9 billion euros (A$301 billion) last year, largely due to price hikes.

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