Observing over two years the evolution of prices paid to farmers for products such as cereals and meat gives us proof that speculation in quotation rooms sets back production and ruins producers. While the government is preparing a new agricultural orientation law, granting fair remuneration to farmers is essential. But the way markets work in the European Union runs counter to this objective.
A car manufacturer sets the price of the vehicles it sells to cover its production costs. He also reaps profits which are often used to stuff shareholders. In return, the latter explode the CEO’s remuneration, as has just been shown by the multinational firm Stellantis which, in 2024, will pay 100,000 euros per day to Carlos Tavares. In stores too, prices are set by the management of the brands, including when they are on promotion.
Despite the passing of two Egalim laws in 2018 and 2021, farmers can never set the price of the food products they produce on their farm, unless they sell them directly to consumers. The prices they receive for wheat, corn, rapeseed, sugar beet, fruit, vegetables and meat fluctuate from day to day on the trading floors, depending on supply and demand . When supply exceeds demand in volume, prices fall at the farm gate. When global demand is significantly greater than supply, prices can increase significantly.
When the price of pork moves in the opposite direction
Among breeders, the price received for meat is sometimes very low when production costs are at their highest. In France, the price of a kilo of pork carcass was between €1.20 and €1.25 from the end of summer 2021 to the beginning of 2022 on the Plérin dial market in Côtes d’Armor. . At the same time, the price of a tonne of corn which is used to feed the pigs increased from €240 in autumn 2021 to 350 euros in February 2022. Currently, the price of a kilo of pork carcass in Plérin is around €2 while the price of a kilo of pork carcass in Plérin is around €2. ton of corn has sold for less than €170 since the start of this year.
When animal sales do not cover production costs, breeders sell part of the breeding herd to avoid going into too much debt. This is how pork production has declined in several member countries of the European Union including France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain over the past two years. In Germany, pig farms have decreased by 5% in two years. In the 27 member countries of the European Union, production has fallen by 10% in five years. Europe mainly exports small cuts that are rarely consumed in member countries of the Union. In Brittany, slaughterings of pork butchers were down -2.2% over the first 9 weeks of 2024 compared to the same weeks in 2023, following an excessively long period of low prices which weakened the economic situation of breeders.
Sharp decline for culled dairy cows
In sheep meat, it is indicated that lamb fatteners have smaller volumes to offer on the markets than last year while our country already imports more than half of the sheep meat consumed by the French. In beef cattle, two years of low farmgate prices have reduced the number of breeding cows by more than 5%. As a result, France now has fewer “grazers”, these young cattle exported alive to Italy and Spain for fattening at the time of weaning. As a result, the Charolais breed cost €3.75 per kilo live at the start of April 2024, compared to €3.25 in April 2022.
In the listing rooms, it is indicated that “commercial activity is supported by the lack of supply. In grazing, prices are tending to stabilize for Charolais, Limousin and Aquitaine blonds. Here again, demand must be greater than supply for prices to rise a little. But this does not apply to all beef cattle. In Europe, the prim’ Holsteins dairy cow produces a lot of milk. But this productivity tires her body and, as a result, she often goes to the slaughterhouse before she is six years old, having only given birth to two or three calves. On April 2, 2024, its kilo of carcass only cost €4.05 at the Cholet market compared to €4.60 in April 2023. Large milk producers, Ireland and the Netherlands export many culled dairy cows from this breed. Our retail brands are increasing these imports of cheap meat to bring down the prices paid to French breeders.
Entry-level chicken pushes back the red label
The situation on the meat poultry market is even more paradoxical. In recent years, successive governments have encouraged breeders to “upgrade” with more “red label” and organic chickens. Their production costs being higher, the chicken must be sold more expensively for the breeders to survive. But as purchasing power is declining in many households, they have mainly purchased entry-level chickens, including those imported from Ukraine, often packaged in Poland and the Netherlands.
Faced with this paradoxical situation, Jean-Michel Schaeffer, chicken breeder in Bas-Rhin and president of the Broiler Poultry Interprofession, made the following observations on February 15: “On the one hand, the sectors are facing pressure to move upmarket and thus meet citizens’ expectations in terms of animal welfare and naturalness. On the other hand, they observe an increase in the consumption of standard chicken, everyday chicken, while that of red label or organic chicken has stagnated or even decreased for two years. In summary, we are asked to produce more and more chickens which we sell less and less. To regain sovereignty, there are three priority areas: carrying out actions aimed at reducing imports on a European scale, encouraging the development of the production of standard chickens in France, ensuring traceability on all products marketed in France and Europe.
But none of these conditions are met within the framework of the ultraliberal functioning of the European Union. At least six weeks before the June 9 vote to elect deputies to the European Parliament, this justifies the words of Léon Deffontaines, grandson of farmers and head of the list for “a new rally on the left”. He clearly states that “we must rebuild the common agricultural policy to defend French agriculture, rural life and our right to eat well”.
