2023-09-09 14:00:03
In the media arena, everyone brandishes their figures like so many banners. Tuesday, September 5, the meat manufacturers united within Culture meat piqued the audience gathered during their annual Parisian conference. They were alarmed by the decline in the consumption of animal proteins in France. Red and pink meat more precisely.
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This agitated muleta in public made cattle breeders see red. “We have to stop with this posture. The beef market is extremely dynamic”, reacted the same day Patrick Bénézit, president of the National Bovine Federation. To try to settle the dust from this skirmish between slaughterers and breeders wishing not to let themselves be defeated, let us take the Ministry of Agriculture as witness.
According to data published at the end of August, beef consumption fell by 1% over the first six months of 2023. A slight decline certainly, but not a collapse. “There is no de-consumption of beef. The French continue to eat it but there is a change in eating habits. We cook at home less often and go out for lunch or dinner more frequently”underlines Mr. Bénézit.
Imports are increasing
An evolution illustrated in the report for the year 2022 presented by Culture meat. He estimates that home consumption of beef decreased by 9.8% in one year, even though it increased overall by 1% over this period. It is true that although pot-au-feu and bourguignon are no longer in season, the success of hamburgers continues. The fast-food brands that popularized it are constantly eating up market share. Upset, restaurants reacted by systematically slipping it onto the menu between egg mayo and chocolate fondant. The canteens do not deprive themselves of this. And the Frenchman, even back home, tells himself that he could still have some delivered… Beef is still popular.
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Obviously, inflation does not spare the butchery section of supermarkets. When shopping, consumers look for low prices. He quibbles over labels and favors the self-service offering, less expensive in his eyes, even if it sometimes means neglecting the origin of the product. “Today, a quarter of the beef consumed in France is imported”specifies Mr. Bénézit.
These imports are increasing. Especially since, on French territory, herds are losing heads, year after year. The herd has decreased by 10% in six years, or 515,000 fewer suckler cows and 348,000 fewer dairy cows. Attrition linked to the continued decline in the number of breeders. Will it further accelerate at the rate of retirements?
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