“The cost structure has changed profoundly. Most commodities, agricultural and non-agricultural, are now at significantly lower levels than the peaks of previous years. The exceptions are limited to a few sectors, such as meat and coffee. Energy costs, both electricity and gas, are also falling sharply,’ he says.
According to Mastrolia, the rigidity of price lists does not originate in distribution. “High prices squeeze volumes, slow down consumption and end up penalising the entire economic system. It is not in the interest of large retailers to maintain them. The problem lies in a part of the branded industry that continues to defend price structures built in an emergency phase, when costs were significantly higher. Today that phase is over, but the adjustment of price lists has not taken place, creating an obvious disconnect between industrial costs and final prices’.
What are the risks in this situation?
“The risk is that structural effects are created. If prices do not adjust to real costs, volumes are reduced, demand weakens and a vicious circle is triggered that also penalises the industry itself. The sustainability of margins cannot be separated from the sustainability of consumption‘.
CorrierEconomia of 19 January 2026
After the one about Confcommercio, another distortion I denounced some time ago, talking about industry margins doping inflation and making consumer spending expensive.
Below: an article from December 2025 on GS. Drafted 19 January , updated 22 January 2026
