2024-01-27 09:17:36
There are more epic battlefields, but no matter: in the fruit and vegetable section of this Carrefour in Perpignan, two French crises confront each other. On the one hand, the anger of farmers, who point in particular to excessively low remuneration and unfair globalized competition. On the other, inflation, which has been sclerating the French wallet for more than two years, having made the price an absolute criterion at the time of purchase.
In this Verdun of carrots and tomatoes, one side clearly wins. “I would like to support farmers, but with what money?” asks Clémence, in the middle of a debate with her husband regarding the shopping list. The end of the month is so tight and the prices so high that I don’t want to allow myself any excess of solidarity. It’s sad but I want to say “to each their own.” » Between Spanish tomatoes at 2.79 euros per kilo and their French neighbors at 3.79, the former win.
Food, a rare area where the French are free to arbitrate prices
Clémence is not the only one to have abandoned the virtues of Made in France. According to an OpinionWay study for the Chamber of Commerce and Industry dating from November 2023, six out of 10 French people have given up on these purchases due to rising prices. It must be said that the consumer is not helped: most promotions do not carry the badge. At the stand with prices guaranteed once morest inflation, in particular for vegetables and fruits for less than 1.29 euros and less than 99 cents, there are only two chosen blue, white and red: potatoes and onions. “There are more dreamy things all the same,” points out Clémence. The rest – garlic, iceberg lettuce, clementines per 500 gram pack, half a kilo of lemon, peppers – had to cross the Pyrenees to present such an attractive price. As for the organic section – where prices soar even more – it is more snubbed than Barbie at the Oscars.
Elisabeth Tissier-Desbordes, professor of economics at ESCP and specialist in consumer behavior, explains: “Food is one of the rare areas of purchasing where the customer can still arbitrate, which he cannot do on the price of your rent or your electricity, which are also increasing. »
“I’m not going to starve because of ideology”
“I know it’s healthier to eat French, organic and local products. But I’m not going to starve out of ideology. People will tell me that it’s often less than a euro difference. But one euro, plus one euro, plus one euro…”, recalls Stéphane, 26 years old and Blues jersey on his back. So between Polish mushrooms at 3.50 euros for 700 grams, or the same version “guaranteed local product grown less than 65 kilometers from the Carrefour where it is located”, but at 2.89 euros for 400 grams, the choice is made . “In a perfect world, I would eat 100% French. But there…”, he shrugs his square shoulders. And since we’re talking regarding his muscles: “I eat bananas every week because they’re a superfood for sports. And in this store, there is no French production, that settles the question. »
Another bias from which French products suffer: their virtue sometimes seems complex to grasp. We finally leave the vegetable section to venture into the meat section. Natacha, mother, confides: “I know it’s not very healthy but the 350 grams of knacki for 1.75 euros are unbeatable and the children love it. If I buy them organic free-range chicken breast from our local farmers, I think they will like it less. And I save almost 10 euros between these two purchases. » Here too, competition from the rest of the world lurks. 100 grams of jamon serano: 1.95 euros. 100 grams of French dry ham: 2.69 euros. “I’m sorry but for me, it’s the same thing,” continues Natacha.
Behaviors that are slow to change
“All professions are expensive at the moment. Doctors, teachers, shopkeepers… If we start to show solidarity with everyone, we’re not going to get through this,” Jérémy firmly asserts with his cart which smells of globalization. Elisabeth Tissier-Desbordes recalls: “The French are cut off from their farmers in many places. Except in very small towns and villages, they only see them on television, which necessarily cuts off solidarity. In addition, the movement’s message is not very clear, in addition to making certain demands – pesticides or more expensive products – which the consumer is once morest. »
That the average customer of our Carrefour suddenly takes the side of pure Made in France following ten days of agricultural protests therefore seems compromised. “Consumer behavior changes slowly and with difficulty. It’s long-term work for more responsible food purchases, particularly with the nutri-score,” recalls the specialist. Rome was not built in a day. Another not-French thing, well.
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