Tensions between retailers and suppliers have intensified, with Unilever facing the removal of 300 of its products from the shelves of one of Belgium's largest supermarket chains after the two parties failed to conclude price and product negotiations for 2009.
Delhaize Belgium is suspending purchases from the Anglo-Dutch group, including those of supermarket staples such as Knorr, Dove soap and Axe deodorants, after refusing to meet Unilever's demands on price increases and product promotion. In a highly unusual public airing of a commercial disagreement, the supermarket group, which controls a quarter of the Belgian market, yesterday blamed "unacceptable demands" by Unilever for its decision, objecting in particular to a requirement that it stock a much wider range of products than in the past.
