Perrier ordered to remove water filters
The government prefect for the southern Gard region, where Perrier is extracted and bottled, said the product was not a risk to consumers. PHOTO: REUTERS
VERGEZE, France - French authorities ordered Nestle on May 7 to stop filtering its Perrier and held back on allowing the under-pressure brand from using the description 'natural mineral water'.
The government prefect for the southern Gard region, where Perrier is extracted and bottled, said however the product was not a risk to consumers.
But having to remove the filtering system within two months was a new blow for its owner Nestle Waters, which has said that at the peak of its popularity sold nearly one billion bottles a year in 140 countries around the world.
The Swiss food and drinks conglomerate has been under pressure for some time over Perrier and other brands as EU regulations strictly limit what treatments are allowed for any product marketed as natural mineral water.
Nestle Waters said in a statement that it would comply with the order to stop microfiltering and that was 'determined to seek solutions' that would allow the prefect to renew authorisation to use the 'natural mineral water' description.
Authorities said a decision on whether Perrier can be considered 'natural mineral water' would be made by Aug 7.
Following complaints by consumer groups, a French magistrate in 2025 launched a fraud inquiry into Nestle and rival bottler Sources Alma over suspicions of illegal processing of mineral waters that command a premium price.
In 2024, Nestle Waters admitted using banned filters and ultra-violet treatment on mineral waters, which must be processed naturally by law.
It paid a €2 million (S$2.93 million) fine to avoid legal action over the use of illegal water sources and filtering.
It said at the time though that the replacement filters were approved by the government and that its water is 'pure'.
However, regional health authority experts judged the micro filtering system in place did not comply with regulations, prompting May 7's order.
The possibility that the government may have turned a blind eye to illegal filtering practices has been under investigation by a French senate committee following media reports that the prime minister's office and president's office had in 2023 recommended letting Nestle carry on with the micro filtering despite official warnings.
France's former director-general of health, Mr Jerome Salomon, had called for the suspension of Nestle's operations permit at its sites that produce Vittel and other brands in the Vosges region of eastern France and Perrier at Vergeze in the southern Gard region.
President Emmanuel Macron has denied giving in to lobbying by the Swiss food giant.
'One illegal treatment has been replaced by another. The government, which had approved Nestle Waters's transformation plan, is heavily at fault,' said socialist Senator Alexandre Ouizille, who is leading the Senate investigation which is due to be published on May 19.
Foodwatch, one of the consumer groups that had spoken out publicly about the practices of bottlers, said on May 7 'this decision goes in the right direction' and expressed hope that the investigation underway will 'shed complete light on the actions committed by the multinational and its executives'. AFP
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Key US-China trade talks set for Monday in London
FILE PHOTO: The American and Chinese flags are photographed on the negotiating table, during a bilateral meeting between the United States and China, in Geneva, Switzerland, May 10, 2025. KEYSTONE/EDA/Martial Trezzini/Handout via REUTERS/File photo LONDON - Top U.S. and Chinese officials will sit down in London on Monday for talks aimed at defusing the high-stakes trade dispute between the two superpowers that has widened in recent weeks beyond tit-for-tat tariffs to export controls over goods and components critical to global supply chains. At a still-undisclosed venue in London, the two sides will try to get back on track with a preliminary agreement struck last month in Geneva that had briefly lowered the temperature between Washington and Beijing and fostered relief among investors battered for months by U.S. President Donald Trump's cascade of tariff orders since his return to the White House in January. "The next round of trade talks between the U.S. and China will be held in the UK on Monday," a UK government spokesperson said on Sunday. "We are a nation that champions free trade and have always been clear that a trade war is in nobody's interests, so we welcome these talks." Gathering there will be a U.S. delegation led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and a Chinese contingent helmed by Vice Premier He Lifeng. The second-round of meetings comes four days after Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke by phone, their first direct interaction since Trump's January 20 inauguration. During the more than one-hour-long call, Xi told Trump to back down from trade measures that roiled the global economy and warned him against threatening steps on Taiwan, according to a Chinese government summary. But Trump said on social media the talks focused primarily on trade led to "a very positive conclusion," setting the stage for Monday's meeting in London. The next day, Trump said Xi had agreed to resume shipments to the U.S. of rare earths minerals and magnets. China's decision in April to suspend exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets upended the supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world. That had become a particular pain point for the U.S. in the weeks after the two sides had struck a preliminary rapprochement in talks held in Switzerland. There, both had agreed to reduce steep import taxes on each other's goods that had had the effect of erecting a trade embargo between the world's No. 1 and 2 economies, but U.S. officials in recent weeks accused China of slow-walking on its commitments, particularly around rare earths shipments. "We want China and the United States to continue moving forward with the agreement that was struck in Geneva," White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told the Fox News program "Sunday Morning Futures' on Sunday. "The administration has been monitoring China's compliance with the deal, and we hope that this will move forward to have more comprehensive trade talks." The inclusion at the London talks of Lutnick, whose agency oversees export controls for the U.S., is one indication of how central the issue has become for both sides. Lutnick did not attend the Geneva talks, at which the countries struck a 90-day deal to roll back some of the triple-digit tariffs they had placed on each other since Trump's inauguration. That preliminary deal sparked a global relief rally in stock markets, and U.S. indexes that had been in or near bear market levels have recouped the lion's share of their losses. The S&P 500 Index, which at its lowest point in early April was down nearly 18% after Trump unveiled his sweeping "Liberation Day" tariffs on goods from across the globe, is now only about 2% below its record high from mid-February. The final third of that rally followed the U.S.-China truce struck in Geneva. Still, that temporary deal did not address broader concerns that strain the bilateral relationship, from the illicit fentanyl trade to the status of democratically governed Taiwan and U.S. complaints about China's state-dominated, export-driven economic model. While the UK government will provide a venue for Monday's discussions, it will not be party to them but will have separate talks later in the week with the Chinese delegation. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
BYD unleashes an EV industry reckoning that alarms Beijing
The Chinese government is trying to prevent price cuts by market leader BYD from turning into a vicious spiral. PHOTO: REUTERS BEIJING - The price war engulfing China's electric vehicle (EV) industry has sent share prices tumbling and prompted an unusual level of intervention from Beijing. The shakeout may just be getting started. For all the Chinese government's efforts to prevent price cuts by market leader BYD from turning into a vicious spiral, analysts say a combination of weaker demand and extreme overcapacity will slice into profits at the strongest brands and force feebler competitors to fold. Even after the number of EV makers starting shrinking for the first time in 2024, the industry is still using less than half its production capacity. Chinese authorities are trying to minimise the fallout, chiding the sector for 'rat race competition' and summoning heads of major brands to Beijing last week. Yet previous attempts to intervene have had little success. For the short term at least, investors are betting few automakers will escape unscathed: BYD, arguably the biggest winner from industry consolidation, has lost US$21.5 billion (S$27.7 billion) in market value since its shares peaked in late May. 'What you're seeing in China is disturbing, because there's a lack of demand and extreme price cutting,' said John Murphy, a senior automotive analyst at Bank of America Corp. Eventually there will be 'massive consolidation' to soak up the excess capacity, Mr Murphy said. For automakers, relentless discounting erodes profit margins, undermines brand value and forces even well-capitalised companies into unsustainable financial positions. Low-priced and low-quality products can seriously damage the international reputation of 'Made-in-China' cars, the People's Daily, an outlet controlled by the Communist Party, said. And that knock would come just as models from BYD to Geely, Zeekr and Xpeng start to collect accolades on the world stage. For consumers, price drops may seem beneficial but they mask deeper risks. Unpredictable pricing discourages long-term trust – already people are complaining on China's social media, wondering why they should buy a car now when it may be cheaper next week – while there's a chance automakers, as they cut costs to stay afloat, may reduce investment in quality, safety and after-sales service. Auto CEOs were told last week they must 'self-regulate' and shouldn't sell cars below cost or offer unreasonable price cuts, according to people familiar with the matter. The issue of zero-mileage cars also came up – where vehicles with no distance on their odometers are sold by dealers into the second-hand market, seen widely as a way for automakers to artificially inflate sales and clear inventory. Chinese automakers have been discounting a lot more aggressively than their foreign counterparts. Mr Murphy said US automakers should just get out. 'Tesla probably needs to be there to compete with those companies and understand what's going on, but there's a lot of risk there for them.' Others leave no room for doubt that BYD, China's No. 1 selling car brand, is the culprit. 'It's obvious to everyone that the biggest player is doing this,' Jochen Siebert, managing director at auto consultancy JSC Automotive, said. 'They want a monopoly where everybody else gives up.' BYD's aggressive tactics are raising concerns over the potential dumping of cars, dealership management issues and 'squeezing out suppliers,' he said. The pricing turmoil is also unfolding against a backdrop of significant overcapacity. The average production utilization rate in China's automotive industry was mere 49.5 per cent in 2024, data compiled by Shanghai-based Gasgoo Automotive Research Institute show. An April report by AlixPartners meanwhile highlights the intense competition that's starting to emerge among new energy vehicle makers, or companies that produce pure battery cars and plug-in hybrids. In 2024, the market saw its first ever consolidation among NEV-dedicated brands, with 16 exiting and 13 launching. Jiyue Auto shows how quickly things can change. A little over a year after launching its first car, the automaker jointly backed by big names Zhejiang Geely Holding Group and technology giant Baidu, began to scale down production and seek fresh funds. It's a dilemma for all carmakers, but especially smaller ones. 'If you don't follow suit once a leading company makes a price move, you might lose the chance to stay at the table,' AlixPartners consultant Zhang Yichao said. He added that China's low capacity utilization rate, which is 'fundamentally fueling' the competition, is now even under more pressure from export uncertainties. While the push to find an outlet for excess production is thrusting more Chinese brands to export, international markets can only offer some relief. 'The US market is completely closed and Japan and Korea may close very soon if they see an invasion of Chinese carmakers,' Mr Siebert said. 'Russia, which was the biggest export market last year, is now becoming very difficult. I also don't see South-east Asia as an opportunity anymore.' The pressure of cost cutting has also led analysts to express concern over supply chain finance risks. A price cut demand by BYD to one of its suppliers late in 2024 attracted scrutiny around how the car giant may be using supply chain financing to mask its ballooning debt. A report by accounting consultancy GMT Research put BYD's true net debt at closer to 323 billion yuan (S$57.9 billion), compared with the 27.7 billion yuan officially on its books as of the end of June 2024. The pain is also bleeding into China's dealdership network. Dealership groups in two provinces have gone out of business since April, both of them ones that were selling BYD cars. Beijing's meeting with automakers last week wasn't the first attempt at a ceasefire. Two years ago, in mid 2023, 16 major automakers, including Tesla Inc., BYD and Geely signed a pact, witnessed by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, to avoid 'abnormal pricing.' Within days though, CAAM deleted one of the four commitments, saying that a reference to pricing in the pledge was inappropriate and in breach of a principle enshrined in the nation's antitrust laws. BLOOMBERG Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Business Times
an hour ago
- Business Times
Geely chairman says global auto industry faces ‘serious overcapacity'
[SHANGHAI] Geely's chairman and founder Li Shufu said on Saturday (Jun 7) that the global automotive industry was facing 'serious overcapacity' and that the Chinese automaker had decided not to build new manufacturing plants or expand production in existing facilities. Li made the comments at an auto forum in the central city of Chongqing, according to the company. Geely Holding owns multiple automotive brands including Geely Auto, Zeekr and Volvo. His comments come as the Chinese auto industry, the world's largest, has been locked in a brutal price war that is forcing many players to look to markets abroad and has prompted Chinese regulators to call for a halt. Chinese automakers that have been building plants abroad include BYD, Chery Auto and Great Wall Motor. Geely is planning to use French automaker Renault's existing production facilities in Brazil and take a minority stake in Renault's business in the Latin American country, according to an announcement it made in February. Reuters reported in April, citing sources, that Chinese regulators had delayed approval for that. Geely said in response at the time that its cooperation with Renault in Brazil had been successful. REUTERS
