With winter coming, it's time to put your hand in your pocket. Not because of the cold, but to buy the traditional Christmas tree that will sit in your living room during the end-of-year holidays. Yes, but how much will it cost? With the decline in purchasing power, the increase in costs, the climatic hazards, will we have to mortgage our house to get there? What is the “fair price” for the king of the forests? 20 Minutes did not hesitate to address this thorny question.
A fair price, not so easy to define. Because it depends on the merchants, their location, the size of the tree, its category, its aesthetic… The list of criteria to take into account is endless. Let us first remember that the natural Christmas tree sector was affected by the drought in 2022, some having lost up to 25% of plants on their plot, but also by the increase in costs which has continued since. So many thorns in the side which had led Christmas tree producers to practice a “reasoned” increase in the sale price.
For this new 2024 vintage, favorable weather with good rains, all sprinkled with a slight reduction in the price of fuel, has (partly) given back a smile to the producers. In the O'Vent des sapins fir forest, in Loie in Vendée, Valérie Picard announces: “In terms of volume, we have rather the same quantity of fir as in other years but they are beautiful and of good quality because they do not have suffered from the heat and had adequate water. » If the producer also says she is satisfied, it is also because she has not suffered too much from increases in transport costs. “We have not changed our prices this year and last year we only increased the price by 2 or 3%. This time, the price of fuel has fallen again, but so has purchasing power, so we decided to maintain the same prices.”
The king of the living room? The 175 cm Nordmann
So, the right price for a beautiful tree? The most requested at Valérie Picard are the Nordmanns measuring between 175 cm and 200 cm. “The heart of the market” is the 150-175 cm with 80% of sales, announces the French Natural Christmas Tree Association (AFSNN). “On the farm, directly, extra quality, we sell them for 44 euros to individuals. The stores will sell them a little more expensively to make a margin, but we also sell them less expensively. »
Now head to Morvan, the main producing region of Christmas trees in France, ahead of Brittany and Rhône-Alpes, with more than a million special Christmas conifers. The region sets the tone for pricing. Jean-Christophe Bonoron, producer, but also president of the French Natural Christmas Tree Association (AFSNN), first recalls the harsh laws of the market. “We are still a little tight in terms of the quantities produced but in total, between 5.8 and 6 million fir trees are sold each year in France, 20% of which are imported, mainly from Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands. »
“The price of the heart”
If the specialist confirms “the exceptional quality of the fir trees this year”, the difficulty was that the rain made working the soil much more difficult. “We adapted, during planting and cutting, we used lighter material, but it took longer and therefore increased costs for the producer. Wages have also increased, as have all raw materials such as net, wooden pallets, labels. » Despite this, “we are starting with more or less the same prices as last year”, confirms Jean-Christophe Bonoron.
Much further east, in the Vosges, at the producer and wholesaler Déco fir trees, Nicolas Masson also explains that he was “reluctant to increase the selling price”, just like other producers in the region. In question, the fear of limited purchasing power, “already clearly felt at All Saints’ Day”. At equal quality, for a first choice Nordmann 150-175 cm, the consumer will pay, according to Déco sapins, between 39 to 45 euros for their conifer. The larger size in the 50 to 55 euros.
Of course, if you are not very careful, it is possible to find cheaper ones. It is obviously possible to buy them online, without really knowing what they look like exactly. But also with associations, which often make pre-orders and do not profit like a business.
Our file on Christmas treeshttps://www.20minutes.fr/dossier/sapin_de_noel
Or even to have it reimbursed, under certain conditions and in the form of a reduction coupon, as in a well-known flat-pack furniture brand. There, the price approaches 25 euros for trees up to 170 cm and 30 euros for larger ones. It is therefore difficult, if not impossible, to establish a single “fair price”, except, as said by a florist from Rhône-Alpes, that “its price is just that of the heart”.
