José María Bonmatí (Aecoc): "Whoever thinks that we have extraordinary benefits is in another world"

The Government today approves its package of measures to alleviate the impact that inflation is having on households and alleviate the cost of the shopping basket.

The consumer goods sector, which brings together both manufacturers and distributors of food and beverage products, awaits the announcement with expectation.

José María Bonmatí, general director of Aecoc,

, explains to EL MUNDO the position of the sector.

He demands effective measures, such as lowering VAT on food and, above all, postponing the plastic tax, which comes into effect on January 1.

The proposals of the members of the Government on how to make the shopping basket cheaper have varied a lot these months.

What do you expect today? The consumer goods sector is very close to the consumer and we see changes in their behavior every day.

In the United Kingdom, for example, the consumer has not suffered half of the price increases because the type of products they buy has changed.

By changing to a cheaper one, you protect yourself from inflation, but this affects the margins of the companies.

A businesswoman lamented, in reference to the pandemic, that

.

During Covid, companies had cost overruns and prices did not rise, and now that we have more cost overruns, for someone to think that we have extraordinary benefits is in another world.

We have always said that this inflation is not due to demand, but to supply: prices do not rise because people buy a lot, but because costs rise.

The Government began by talking about capping prices, we went through a tax on profits, then it opened to lower VAT in a timely manner... What do you think will finally be approved?

There are two lines in which it makes sense to act.

One is focused on costs.

The one that is clearer is to delay the tax on plastic, because this means 800 million that go directly to the costs of companies.

It is a tax that has enormous complexity and a great administrative cost.

It will create enormous legal uncertainty.

In addition, it has a scope of application that affects all companies, including the smallest ones, because it involves all of them in which plastic appears in the supply process.

If it had been limited, the impact would be less.

The decision to delay this rate is a clean and easy measure, for us it is the priority.

Helping families is the other line of action.

Gasoline spending is not linked to income level, but VAT is a large part of salary, and is closely linked to food.

If you lower the VAT on fish, for example, you also help to make food healthier.

For someone who has a lot of money, what they pay in VAT has very little weight, but a reduction in VAT on basic products does help families with less income.

What is the dialogue with the Government?

Has this package been consulted? There is no negotiation, but dialogue, especially with Agriculture and Commerce.

We have moved our arguments.

What we are not doing is agreeing on anything because it is a government decision, but they are in the process of listening. On the plastic tax, which comes into force next week, do you still expect the government to postpone it? Ask that it be delayed It does not go against our environmental commitment, because it is already reflected in the waste law.

In addition to all the additional costs that we suffer, we have to pay a tax and on top of that we are going to be the only ones in Europe.

The consumer is increasingly sensitive to price, there is enormous pressure on margins.

This measure means little for the state and a lot for companies.

It is throwing more gasoline on the fire that we have and we believe that it is not appropriate at this time.

We hope that, in the face of this clamor, they will be sensitive. Regarding the 33% tax on extraordinary profits for supermarkets proposed by Yolanda Díaz, do you think it will be approved? It is a measure that has no collection effect because there will be no great extraordinary benefits.

And it is absolutely inapplicable, we do not believe that it will appear in any case.

We do not contemplate it but we are concerned about the reputational part.

We are almost accused of taking advantage of inflation to have more benefits.

The damage is done only by throwing the idea.

That is not knowing the sector.

This is a sector in which the competition is with the knife between its teeth.

About the 33% tax on extraordinary profits from supermarkets proposed by Yolanda Díaz, do you think it will be approved? It is a measure that has no collection effect because there will be no great extraordinary profits.

And it is absolutely inapplicable, we do not believe that it will appear in any case.

We do not contemplate it but we are concerned about the reputational part.

We are almost accused of taking advantage of inflation to have more benefits.

The damage is done only by throwing the idea.

That is not knowing the sector.

This is a sector in which the competition is with the knife between its teeth.

About the 33% tax on extraordinary profits from supermarkets proposed by Yolanda Díaz, do you think it will be approved? It is a measure that has no collection effect because there will be no great extraordinary profits.

And it is absolutely inapplicable, we do not believe that it will appear in any case.

We do not contemplate it but we are concerned about the reputational part.

We are almost accused of taking advantage of inflation to have more benefits.

The damage is done only by throwing the idea.

That is not knowing the sector.

This is a sector in which the competition is with the knife between its teeth.

We do not believe that it will appear in any case.

We do not contemplate it but we are concerned about the reputational part.

We are almost accused of taking advantage of inflation to have more benefits.

The damage is done only by throwing the idea.

That is not knowing the sector.

This is a sector in which the competition is with the knife between its teeth.

We do not believe that it will appear in any case.

We do not contemplate it but we are concerned about the reputational part.

We are almost accused of taking advantage of inflation to have more benefits.

The damage is done only by throwing the idea.

That is not knowing the sector.

This is a sector in which the competition is with the knife between its teeth.

Throughout this crisis, have you felt unfairly treated?

Do you think that this message has penetrated the consumer?

During the Covid, in a very difficult environment, we were clear that shortages could not fail and that gave us a feeling of pride.

That began to be diluted with vaccination, because we were an essential sector, face-to-face, but we were not a priority, and now it turns out that we are on the other side, and they say that we are taking advantage.

We have a feeling of injustice, but I think that pride must prevail, that we are doing things well.

The consumer is aware of the effort that is made.

In the short term we have good data because we have eaten part of the savings that we had stored in the pandemic.

There has been deferred consumption, but when people have to manage their budget, we'll see.

In favor we have that this energy crisis we have not had supply risk problems.

Also, the jobs data still has some strength and that's good for spending.

For this reason, we have to focus on the costs and allocate the money from the extra collection in the things that help.

Do you think that the worst is over, that prices can start to moderate?

There is a lot of volatility and uncertainty in the forecasts, because there are some commodities that are going down, but others are going up.

Now it is very difficult to know how much the cardboard, the glass will cost...

Do you think that the worst is over, that prices can start to moderate?

There is a lot of volatility and uncertainty in the forecasts, because there are some commodities that are going down, but others are going up.

Now it is very difficult to know how much the cardboard, the glass will cost...

Do you think that the worst is over, that prices can start to moderate?

There is a lot of volatility and uncertainty in the forecasts, because there are some commodities that are going down, but others are going up.

Now it is very difficult to know how much the cardboard, the glass will cost...

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