Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
Food price hikes will see a second wave next year. The food industry federation Fevia warns of this. New energy and supplier contracts and wage indices will significantly increase costs for food companies.
In the past year, food companies have also felt the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to the Belgian news agency. The high cost of energy output, logistical problems, and increased raw material prices have led to higher costs of production as well as the final price to consumers.
  In November, food prices were about 15 percent higher than they were twelve months earlier.
And for now, there is no improvement in sight. A quarter of energy-intensive food companies will often see their fixed-energy contracts expire and have to pay at variable rates in the next year, sometimes increasing their costs by three to four times, according to Fevia. The sector will also have to tackle the wage index in January, as a result of which companies will have to increase wages by 11 percent.
In addition, certain contracts with suppliers will also have to be renegotiated. “Suppliers who have already fulfilled their contracts and who have bled for the past year are now starting to knock on their doors and are now going to significantly raise their prices,” says Fevia Chairman Anthony Botelberg. This inflation "has not yet gone to the market."

Fevia also complains that the food industry must bear the brunt within the food chain. The sector union is critical of the position of the supermarket chains, which it says do not want to take a "fair" share of the cost increases.
All this puts pressure on the profitability of food companies, which negatively affects investment and employment plans in this sector. Fevia is therefore asking the government to take additional energy and wage measures and reduce "unfair practices" in the chain.
It is noteworthy that the Belgian food sector owns more than 4,000 companies, employing 98,000 people and generating sales of 61 billion euros.