Price spat between Tesco and Heinz signals tougher retailer-supplier ties

A spat between Tesco and Heinz over beans and ketchup could herald an era of more adversarial relations between retailers and suppliers as inflation squeezes both production costs and consumer incomes, analysts said. US-listed Kraft Heinz has temporarily halted supplies of some lines to the UK's largest supermarket amid a public row about pricing, with Tesco saying it was not prepared to "Pass on unjustifiable price increases to our customers". Baked beans are regarded as one of a list of "Key price items" on which supermarkets compete intensively - others include pints of milk, half-a-dozen eggs and loaves of bread. Some of the Heinz products affected are among those where Tesco has pledged to match prices at discounter Aldi. The Groceries Code Adjudicator's annual survey found that four-fifths of suppliers had asked for a cost price increase over the past year, but a quarter of the requests had been met with either a flat refusal or a long delay in responding. "Many annual price negotiations start in September and October because that is when the ingredients are harvested."

Read the full story

 Related companies

Make a complaint about Tesco by viewing their customer service contacts.

•