Coles on alert for Donald Trump tariff fallout
Coles is on high alert for impacts from US President Donald Trump's global tariffs as prices on major products in Australian supermarkets start to fall.
Coles chief executive Leah Weckert predicts impacts from Trump's tariffs to be 'very minimal', as the company on Wednesday announced a 3.7 per cent increase in sales over the three months to March.
'Are there secondary effects or indirect impacts that could come through? I think it's probably too early to really tell on that,' Ms Weckert said.
She added that Coles is monitoring processing fees around meat, particularly beef, closely.
The nation's second-largest supermarket recorded $9.4 billion in sales, bolstered by 25.7 per cent growth in online sales to $1.1 billion. Liquor sales grew by 3.4 per cent.
Inflation at the supermarket, excluding tobacco, remained steady at 1.1 per cent for the quarter, and below the industry rate of 3.1 per cent.
Coles reported falling prices in fresh produce, as well as packaged, healthcare products and cleaning products.
'We have seen a modest uptick in terms of how people are feeling, which is good, although I would say that some of the events from the US and around the tariffs are probably offsetting that,' Ms Weckert said.
Inflation is still impacting several categories, including cocoa and coffee, mainly because of price changes for ingredients.
'Cocoa, for example … has increased more than 180 per cent in the last 12 months. So that is something that suppliers have been very proactive in passing on, and is one of the reasons that we saw Easter eggs more expensive,' Ms Weckert said.
Coles is predominantly a domestic business and unlikely to be hit hard by global tariffs, but the supermarket is keeping a close watch on secondary impacts.
US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs of at least 10 per cent on trading partners around the world in April.
'It's probably too early to really tell on that but we are monitoring it, particularly around impacts to things like cost of goods and particularly in the meat space,' Ms Weckert said.
'Processing and beef for example could be one area where we might start to see increases in cost of goods coming through but we are going to need to wait and see.'
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