Purchasing power : the price war | France 2 | Envoyé Spécial

The issue is a burning one: investigation, counter investigation, communications war. Who is really benefiting from the rise in prices?We followed the journey of three current consumer products: a lettuce, a factory-produced cheese and a packet of low price pasta.It’s rare to find a producer who will appear in an interview because of fear of sanctions from the major distributors.A farmer from the South West agreed to show us the journey of a lettuce, from production to the shelf just a few miles from where it was grown.There’s another example of a famous brand of factory-made cheese. Recently a distributor accused the brand of having raised its prices “unjustifiably”. Sanctions followed at once: the product was withdrawn from the chain’s supermarkets.We also trace the path of a low price packet of pasta sold under a distributor’s brand. These products are often cheaper than major brand products.However, and this was not really apparent from the latest investigations, the price of these products has risen considerably more than those of major brands.The war between producers, factories and distributors is only just beginning.