After coffee the diapers: Colruyt is struggling again with empty racks

“Dear customer, this product is temporarily unavailable.” Those looking for Pampers at Colruyt may find empty shelves with that message. The supermarket chain is currently negotiating with Procter & Gamble, the multinational behind Pampers, about the price. Those conversations seem to be difficult.

Colruyt confirms that the conversations are still ongoing, but remains optimistic: “We are convinced that, like every year, we will come to an agreement through constructive negotiations.” The supermarket does not want to say any further details, but emphasizes that there are enough alternatives available and that it is not the intention that the racks remain empty. P&G also does not want to communicate about current negotiations.

It is clear that the price of diapers has risen in recent years. This is partly due to more expensive raw materials and the higher energy prices. For example, the war in Ukraine makes less wood pulp available. That basic raw material for diapers is a material that is obtained by separating cellulose from the fibers of wood. Europe always got a lot of wood from Russia, but due to the sanctions that supply is disturbed, resulting in price increases.

Coffee

The situation is reminiscent of the recent price dispute around Douwe Egberts. The negotiations between JDE Peet’s, the company behind the coffee, and Supermarktens in Belgium, the Netherlands and France ran so bad that the products temporarily disappeared from the racks.

At the end of February, Colruyt reached an agreement after months of consultation, but Douwe Egberts will remain untraceable at Delhaize and Albert Heijn. In the Netherlands, Jumbo and Picnic managed to close a deal this week, although they had to take strong price increases that they cannot fully calculate to their customers.

Read too. For 51 years, Colruyt has been said that you will always find the lowest price in their stores. Just to be sure, we checked it