Prices in shops cannot follow ruble devaluation: before retailers dictated terms to suppliers, now wholesalers lay down terms to retailers. If retailer do not want to increase purchase prices, deliveries of products may be suspended.
Maria Kurnosova, representative of the hypermarket chain Auchan, reported that part of the suppliers, both food and non-food categories, sent a letter that they would stop the shipment of goods, if the retailer did not increase purchase prices.
Some producers reported that a similar situation occured with Metro Cash & Carry: part of their suppliers stopped shipments or warned about this.
Anastasia Orlova, representative of the retail group “Dixy”, said that there were no breakdowns in the supplies, although some suppliers sent requests to increase purchase prices, they also refused to participate in the discount promotions.
Despite the penalties (up to 50% of the contract value), many suppliers suspended work. Small companies, unlike large multinational companies, cannot supply at a loss for so long. About 70% of the suppliers are in the process of negotiations, and if after a day or two retail chains refuse to accept reasonable prices, deliveries may stop at all, according to the head of the association “Roschaykofe” Ramaz Chanturia. “Empty shelves will cause panic among the population”, so retailers are likely to make concessions, he said.
Producer of fish and seafood “Agama” informed retailer about price increase in proportion to the increase of the dollar on Tuesday, said Yuri Alasheev, chair of the board of directors, they gave retailers a week for approval. He said, that most networks responded “quite calm”. “I think the situation will be clarified by Monday, when retailers will respond to our letter”, said Alashaev.
Wine importer Simple stopped selling wine for a while, it is not possible to order drinks on their website at the moment. Online assistance of the website confirmed that the sales were frozen because of the economic situation, and the problem would be resolved in a day or two. Anatoly Korneev, vice president and co-founder of the company, said that this was a “temporary measure”.
Andrew Agarkov, commercial director of the supplier Uvelka (buckwheat and rice) said that they continued supplies to retailers with the old purchase price and would raise prices in February according to the plan after the negotiations with retailers.
With the constantly growing currency rate there is no time for neg long negotiations on the revision of the price, although there is a rule that it should take 45 days, according to Dmitri Leonov, deputy chairman of the association “Rusprodsojuz”.