“Our companies must be able to come out of the red,” Christiane Lambert, new president of the Federation of French Charcuterie Catering Companies (Fict) told AFP this Tuesday, October 1, 2024. The former boss of the FNSEA calls to “revaluations” of purchase prices to manufacturers on the occasion of the start of annual commercial negotiations with supermarket brands, the scene of bitter discussions on product prices.
“No food sovereignty” without “profitable businesses”
“There will be no French food sovereignty, there will be no processing in France, if there are no profitable companies,” defends Christiane Lambert, who has just left the presidency of Copa, the main agricultural lobby group in the European Union.
Nearly one in three charcuterie manufacturers (30%) closed the 2023 financial year with a loss, according to a study by the Banque de France commissioned by Fict, the Inaporc inter-professional association and the public establishment FranceAgriMer. It was one in four (25%) in 2022.
Margins that are eroding
“Catering charcuterie companies have not managed to sufficiently pass on the sharp increase in production costs over the last two years,” says Fict in its press release issued this Tuesday, October 1. And to add that “the delicatessen department is the most profitable department for distributors”, with a “net margin generated by the department increased from more than 400 million euros in 2020 to nearly 600 million euros in 2022 “.
According to the federation, the net margin rate of companies in the sector, which evaluates the income generated in relation to their costs, has fallen by 65%. “Already very low in 2022 (1.1%), it falls again in 2023 and stands at 0.9% of turnover. For the record, it was 2.6% in 2021.”
“Our charcuterie companies process 75% of French pigs. If they experience difficulties, do not have the means to invest, to modernize, they lose their place on the shelves compared to imported products, which is also detrimental for breeders,” argues the president of the Fict, she -same pig producer.
The organization has around 300 members: companies of all sizes, including heavyweights Herta, Fleury Michon and Aoste. The meat processing industries represent 32,000 jobs in France.
With AFP
