Despite difficult conditions this year for the agricultural sector, FNSEA President Arnaud Rousseau announces that prices will remain stable for consumers. He also calls for a greater role for producer organizations in setting prices.
The year 2024 will be difficult for the agricultural sector. Worst wheat harvests in 40 years, disappointing grape harvests for winegrowers, poor fruit harvests, bluetongue epidemics in sheep… However, the president of the FNSEA, Arnaud Rousseau, invited on BFMTV, anticipates stable prices for wheat in particular: “there will be no impact on prices at this stage and so much the better for the purchasing power of the French, because we export a lot”.
Some prices, such as wheat, rapeseed, corn or soya, are in fact fixed at the global level, and the harvests have not been as bad as in France or anywhere else in the world.
Building a price “in forward motion”
Good news for the consumer, but expectations to be met for the agricultural producer. In a more structural manner, Arnaud Rousseau defended the establishment of a remunerative price for the agricultural profession, described as a “forward price”, respecting “agricultural raw materials”. Dismissing the idea of floor prices that can turn into ceiling prices, the president of the leading agricultural union returned to the need to “build a forward price, based on interprofessional production indicators, particularly in livestock production”. This is to allow the sale of agricultural products at prices higher than the cost price.
How can this fair price be achieved? Arnaud Rousseau calls for producers to be invited to the negotiating table.
We want to be at the negotiating table. (…) There must be room for negotiation between producer organizations and the industrialist.”
According to him, this participation of producers in negotiations for products falling within the framework of the Egalim law could be extended to distributor brands and products outside of mass distribution among wholesalers (45% of food volumes). This would make it possible to guarantee a fair price, a condition of French food sovereignty at “prices bearable for the consumer’s wallet”.
