Tesco boss slams Marmite for using the weak pound as an excuse to raise prices
THE boss of Tesco last night spoke out to criticise the makers of Marmite - for using the weak pound as an excuse to raise prices.
Chief exec Dave Lewis broke his silence over a spat last month between Britain’s biggest supermarket and multinational manufacturer Unilever.
Tesco ran out of some stock of Unilever products, which also include Pot Noodle and PG Tips, in October after its supplier tried to enforce price hikes of 10 per cent.
But yesterday Mr Lewis, who used to work for Unilever, said price rises “need to be legitimate”.
He added: “We buy virtually everything for our own label, so there isn’t an ingredient or a commodity out there that we don’t have very good insight into...
“We’re not naive to the fact that there’s inflationary pressure.
“You see it already in some categories. Pork has been affected much sooner than other [foods].”
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But he added: “I spent 28 years of my life working for a multinational business and there are currency pressures, particularly in Latin America.
“But multinational businesses present results in constant and reported exchange rates and the City understands...the volatility of currencies."
He added: “I would ask companies in those positions to not ask UK consumers to pay inflated prices in order that their reported currency is maintained.”
Mr Lewis later added it was other companies’ “right to try and increase prices, but it is Tesco’s right to say we will no longer stock them if they do without a justified reason”.