(Reuters) -Tesco and Kraft Heinz Co have struck a deal to bring back the U.S. food giant’s products to the supermarket chain’s shelves and make them available for online purchases in the coming days, the companies said on Friday.
Kraft Heinz had stopped supplying some products, such as tomato ketchup and baked beans, to Tesco as the supermarket chain resisted charging customers higher prices for them at a time of surging inflation.
“Lorries full of Heinz products including Heinz Tomato Ketchup and Heinz Beanz will hit the road shortly, and Tesco colleagues will … ensure shelves are filled again over the coming days,” the companies said.
Tesco, which has an over 27% share of Britain’s grocery market, had apologised for the absence of Heinz products but refused at the time to pass on “unjustifiable” price increases to its customers.
Kraft Heinz had said it was battling to provide good value products in a market hit by rising commodity and production costs.
European retailers are locked in extended price negotiations with giant food companies which have announced plans to lift prices to curb the impact of soaring raw material costs, Reuters reported in February.
(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Richa Naidu in London; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Krishna Chandra Eluri)
