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Friday 18 November 2016 8:54 am

#Marmitegate: Tesco boss warns suppliers against hiking prices

By: Helen Cahill

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Tesco's chief executive Dave Lewis has told suppliers not to up prices due to sterling's slide following the Brexit vote.

Lewis recently went to war with Unilever after the supplier tried to increase the price of popular goods such as Marmite and PG Tips by 10 per cent.

Read more: Marmite peace settlement sends Tesco to the top of the FTSE 100

Now, Lewis has argued that companies should remove the impact of currency movements when reporting results, a commonly accepted practice, rather than hiking prices for people in the UK.

Lewis said: "The only thing we would ask of companies that are in that position is they they don't ask UK customers to pay inflated prices in order that their reporting currency is maintained.

"They don't do that for countries outside the UK."

The Tesco boss worked for Unilever for 28 years before moving to Tesco, so is well aware of how Unilever works, and the pressure it is under.

Read more: The Marmite war is over: Tesco and Unilever strike deal

Tesco briefly stopped selling Unilever goods online last month because it was running out of stock due to the spat between the two companies.

#Marmite cartoons are spread pretty thickly across the papers this morning… here's my salty bite from @Independent pic.twitter.com/30xTsgypWG

— Dave Brown (@DaveBrownToons) October 14, 2016

It was the first tangible effect of Brexit for consumers, who have so far been cucooned from any Brexit-related price rises. Fierce competition in the retail sector, and especially in supermarkets, has so far kept prices in retreat.

However, retail's industry body, the British Retail Consortium, has predicted that prices will start to rise next year.

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