Carrefour has announced it will stop sourcing meat from Mercosur countries—Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay—in support of French farmers’ standards. This decision has prompted backlash in Brazil, with calls for a boycott from agricultural groups and major disruptions in meat supply due to JBS halting deliveries. The move may have political motivations linked to the EU-Mercosur trade agreement, which faces opposition from several EU nations concerned about its impact on local agriculture.
Carrefour Stops Sourcing Meat from Mercosur Countries
In a significant move last week, Alexandre Bompard, the president of Carrefour, announced on his Instagram that the retail giant will cease offering meat sourced from the South American Mercosur countries, which include Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay—key players in beef exports.
This decision is made in solidarity with French farmers, as Bompard highlighted in a letter to the French farmers’ association, citing concerns over the potential influx of meat that does not comply with French standards.
Reactions from Brazil and Implications for Carrefour
Bompard’s announcement has sparked a strong backlash in Brazil. Agriculture Minister Carlos Fávaro criticized the statement, arguing that it misrepresents Brazilian agricultural practices and overlooks the country’s commitment to sustainable production.
Numerous Brazilian agricultural organizations, both regional and federal, have echoed this sentiment, calling for a boycott of Carrefour. Hotel and restaurant associations have also expressed intentions to halt their purchases from the French retailer.
Adding to the tension, JBS, the world’s largest meat processing company, has suspended deliveries to Carrefour. This company is responsible for supplying 80 percent of the beef products sold at Carrefour and its affiliated stores, leading to noticeable meat shortages in over 500 Brazilian supermarkets.
This situation poses a considerable challenge for Bompard in Paris, as Brazil stands as Carrefour’s second-largest market globally, following France. Together, these two markets generate half of the retailer’s profits, raising concerns about the potential financial ramifications of this decision.
Consumer protests advocating a boycott of Carrefour are gaining momentum on social media platforms, further complicating matters for the retailer.
Bompard’s motivations may also be politically charged. Speculation suggests he aimed to support French President Emmanuel Macron during the G-20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, where nations like Germany, Brazil, and Spain urged France to reconsider its stance on the EU-Mercosur trade agreement, a deal that has been in negotiation for two decades.
Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis noted that Europe’s share in global trade is diminishing. The EU-Mercosur agreement aims to counteract this trend, with Germany particularly eager to see it materialize to bolster its struggling economy.
Conversely, Austria, Ireland, Poland, and France stand as the primary opponents of the agreement, largely due to strong agricultural lobbies within these nations, including the ÖVP party in Austria.
In France, food manufacturers are aligning with farmers. For instance, dairy giant Danone recently declared it would stop importing soy products from Brazil, while Olivier Leducq, head of the sugar company Tereos, criticized the Mercosur agreement for presenting “unfair competition.”
This wave of protests seems to serve as a marketing strategy for Carrefour in its home market, especially given that the EU strictly regulates meat imports from South America. From January to October, France imported a mere 40 tons of beef from Brazil, a minimal fraction of the 1.41 million tons Brazil exported globally during that time. Thus, France represents less than 0.003 percent of Brazilian beef exports, making the French market relatively insignificant for Brazilian suppliers.
However, the significance of the South American market for Carrefour cannot be understated. The company also has a substantial presence in Argentina, where similar resistance may soon arise.
The EU has long recognized that beef is a particularly sensitive issue in free trade negotiations, with many European farmers still engaged in cattle farming. The concessions to Mercosur outlined in the agreement are minimal, allowing only 1.2 percent of EU beef consumption to come from these countries, with similar modest quotas for other agricultural products, such as a duty-free supply of 190,000 tons of sugar, just over 1 percent of EU consumption.
Nonetheless, certain EU member states fear that these concessions may set a precedent, leading to further trade agreements with agricultural exporters like New Zealand, Australia, and the USA, which could pose risks to local farmers, as warned by the agriculture minister of one EU nation.