So now Aldi too: The discounter giant is increasing its prices.

According to the Lebensmittel-Zeitung, around 160 items are becoming more expensive.

Sometimes it's just an increase of 10 cents, sometimes just one euro.

Whether coffee, cola, frozen products or baked goods - around 10 percent of the range is affected by the increase.

“Aldi has always made regular price adjustments.

This means that we reduce sales prices when purchase prices fall and increase sales prices when purchase prices increase," a spokeswoman said on request.

What the spokeswoman does not say: so many Aldi products have not been affected by an increase for years.

Stefanie Diemand

Editor in Business.

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Jonas Jansen

Business correspondent in Düsseldorf.

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Gustave parts

Business correspondent in Stuttgart.

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So groceries are becoming more expensive – at least at Aldi.

According to the Federal Statistical Office, food prices rose by 5.1 percent in February alone compared to the previous year.

Higher consumer prices, be it for petrol or for electricity, are not a new topic.

Some consumers may have noticed price increases in the food market, too, but the food trade has so far held back across the board.

Tough struggles between purchasing and suppliers

And that's why it's anything but trivial when Aldi raises its prices.

For a long time, dealers balked at manufacturers demanding higher prices.

Brand manufacturers such as Eckes-Granini were already demanding from retailers last year that prices had to be increased due to the difficult world market situation.

In addition to high transport costs, raw material prices and energy prices, the ongoing pandemic has been affecting companies for many months.

The war in Ukraine has now significantly exacerbated this situation.

Traders are used to seasonal fluctuations due to crop failures, but the war is a serious threat to future harvests, of which the agrochemicals group Bayer warned on Friday.

Bayer is the largest seed manufacturer in the world.

"We have significant cost inflation across the board,

which will probably accompany us for a long time," the juice manufacturer also said on request.

This leads to uncertainties and makes "all market participants nervous".

The situation in Ukraine only aggravated this conflict.

According to Eckes-Granini, part of the additional costs must therefore be refinanced through prices.

Many manufacturers, including Eckes, do not want to comment further on the current negotiations with retailers.

Industry experts have been talking about a tough struggle between suppliers and buyers over the price for months.

Despite persistent inflation, it was primarily retailers who wanted to keep prices low for consumers.

Anyone who didn't want to go along was recently simply delisted and replaced with a product from the private label range.

Inevitable price increases for almost all products possible

The French manufacturer Danone says that they are trying to pass on only a small part of the price increase to consumers.

Nevertheless, the negotiations do not seem to be going smoothly: "Some trading partners have great understanding for the situation.

With others, however, we find that they are still trying to hide the reality that is unfortunately difficult for all of us," says a spokesman.

Another company says that German grocers have no experience of how best to act in such an "inflationary environment".

This leads to unnecessarily tough negotiations and is ultimately not good for retailers, suppliers, producers or customers.