Who benefits from the high prices in the supermarket?

Dusseldorf For months, a tough price war has been raging in the supermarkets between manufacturers and retailers. Large consumer goods groups were able to increase their profits significantly in 2022 and retailers slightly, while small producers lost margins. This is shown by an analysis by the consulting firm Oliver Wyman for the Handelsblatt of the 70 largest European companies in the industry that publish their business figures.

At the major consumer goods manufacturers, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) rose from 19.3 to 19.8 percent of sales. Retailers of groceries and other everyday goods were also able to increase the average margin, but only from 6.3 to 6.4 percent. In the case of smaller producers with less than a billion in sales, however, the average return fell from 12.5 to 11.7 percent.