Australian share market closes lower after mixed session on Wall Street — as it happened

European retail giant Carrefour will no longer sell PepsiCo products in its stores in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium after the items became too costly.

Beginning on Thursday in Europe, shelves for PepsiCo products (which includes products like Pepsi, Lay’s potato chips, Doritos and Gatorade, to name a few) will carry signs saying the brands will no longer be stocked “due to unacceptable prices increases”, according to a spokesperson for the French supermarket giant.

The decision impacts more than 9,000 stores across the four European countries, and is equivalent to around two-thirds of their total global footprint of 14,348 stores.

Back in October, PepsiCo outlined its plans for “modest” price increases in 2024, as demand held up despite price rises, which lead it to hike its 2023 profit forecast for the third time in a row.

Comparatively, Carrefour has been actively challenging big consumer product and food companies over their prices, and even went as far to start a “shrinkflation” campaign by sticking warnings on products that have shrunk in size but cost more to buy last year.

France strictly regulates its retail sector, and forces supermarkets to negotiate their prices once a year with food and drink companies to try and protect its farm industry — and this year, France’s government has asked retailers and suppliers to finish their annual negotiations in January, two months ahead of schedule, in an attempt to lower inflation.

A number of grocery retailers in several European countries have stopped orders from a number of firms, as part of a tactic in price negotiations that have become even more challenging due to inflation.

“We’ve been in discussion with Carrefour for many months and we will continue to engage in good faith in order to try to ensure that our products are available,” PepsiCo said in a statement.

So how have customers responded to Carrefour’s decision?

One shopper, who spoke to Reuters, said she wasn’t surprised by the decision.

“I think there will be lots of products left on the shelves because they have become too expensive, and they are all things we can avoid buying,” shopper Edith Carpentier told the news agency.