At many Ica stores, Gevalia’s shelves echo empty. The reason is that the coffee giant has chosen to raise its prices to the extent that Ica no longer buys several varieties from Gevalia. – In this situation, ICA has a double societal responsibility. This means that we must ensure that Swedish food producers are fairly paid, while at the same time it is important to protect the best possible price for our consumers, writes Rickard Gustafsson, head of colonial at Ica Sweden, in an email. At the end of March, ICA announced that it would lower the price of over 300 goods by between 5 and 25 percent. But Gevalia has gone against the grain and instead raised the price of its products, something that Arbetarbladet was the first to report on. This has led to Ica opting out of large parts of Gevalia’s range. – Regarding Gevalia, it is correct that we have currently chosen to have a smaller range of Gevalia articles in Ica’s central range due to the fact that Gevalia’s articles have increased in price very much. Can still be ordered Ica puts a stop to deliveries from a central location, but it is still free for individual Ica traders to order in the selected Gevalia varieties. – ICA’s traders themselves decide on their range and price. Individual Ica stores can purchase products directly from Gevalia and therefore the range can vary from store to store. How much the coffee company’s products have increased in price is unclear, but an ICA trader tells Arbetarbladet that Gevalia has chosen to raise prices by around SEK 18. The company writes in an email that they need to raise prices to cover increased costs. Among other things, Gevalia points to increased production costs and the cost of raw materials for coffee. – Therefore, our price for the grocery trade will not always reflect the same volatility as the raw price of coffee, writes Alexandra Iskandar, communications manager at Jacobs Douwe Egberts, which owns Gevalia. Furthermore, she states that the Ica stores form a dominant part of the Swedish grocery trade, but she cannot answer why other coffee companies can lower prices. – For questions regarding other coffee suppliers, we would like to refer you to them.
t4-general