Sept 20 (Reuters) - Consumer goods firms like Nestle (NESN.S), Lindt (LISN.S) and Unilever (ULVR.L) may face increased pressure across Europe to cut prices after being singled out by French retailers and politicians, industry experts say. France is a crucial country for consumer goods companies, having long outstripped Germany, Italy, Spain and others as the European Union's biggest market for groceries by supermarket revenues, according to research firm IBISWorld. That means consumer groups will face pressure to rein back prices across the European Union. Because these supermarkets are in different countries and do not compete with one another, they often combine forces to negotiate with consumer goods makers. Consumer goods makers have for more than two years grappled with sky-rocketing input, supply chain and labour costs that they have either absorbed - taking a hit to margins - or passed on to retailers.

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Persons: It's, Laurent Thoumine, Thoumine, Ferrero's, Pernod Ricard's Ricard, Systeme, Germany's, Switzerland's, Italy's, Philippe Michaud, Leclerc, Bruno Le Maire, Le Maire, Richard Saldanha, Lindt, Saldanha, Richa Naidu, Helen Reid, Matt Scuffham, Catherine Evans Organizations: Consumer, Nestle, Unilever, Carrefour, PepsiCo, European, Reuters, European Union, Epic Partners, French Finance, Aviva Investors, Paris, Thomson Locations: Europe, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Eurelec