The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday, April 23, edition that Metro says it is pushing back against cost-increase requests from suppliers. The Globe's Susan Krashinsky Robertson writes that Metro said it has received "only a few" such requests during a conference call to discuss second quarter ended March 14. Soaring fuel prices amid the Iran war have affected the global supply chain, adding to the costs of production and of transportation. Grocers are also affected, as they truck food from their distribution centres to stores. That will in turn put pressure on food prices on shelves. Metro expects that higher costs will be reflected over time, "but it hasn't started to happen yet." Metro reported on Wednesday that its sales grew to $5.1-billion in its second quarter, up 4.1 per cent compared with the same period the prior year. Customer traffic was up because of new store openings. Same-store sales were up 1.8 per cent in Metro's grocery stores. Lower same-store sales are being observed across the grocery industry, "with more growth coming from new stores," says Scotiabank analyst John, noting that Metro's comparable sales growth in the quarter was well below Canada's food inflation rate.