More than five euros difference between the price paid to the producer and the price paid by the consumer. Such a difference is surprising, especially for cauliflower. This is the observation made by a Facebook post. The author of this publication is outraged that a cabbage is paid 0.70 cents to the producer, while the same vegetable is displayed at 5.95 euros in a supermarket.
These few lines, undated, have met with significant success on the social network, where they have been shared more than 38,000 times in six days, while agricultural unions are mobilizing throughout France to express their demands.
FAKE OFF
Cauliflower is one of the vegetables whose price is most sensitive to fluctuations. And hazards, the sector knew some in recent weeks: storm Ciaran at the beginning of November, excess rain then in Brittany, the region which supplies 90% of French production… “We are missing 20% of the volume” that the producers should have supplied, summarizes with 20 minutes Julien Quillévéré, producer and president of the cauliflower section of the Prince de Bretagne brand. As a result, prices rose in the last two months of the year, before falling somewhat in recent days.
Prices may also be pushed up due to international factors. Indeed, “60% of cauliflowers produced in Brittany are intended for export,” recalls Julien Quillévéré, where they compete with Spanish and Italian vegetables. When these countries were hit by drought, “demand was much stronger” for French products, pushing prices up in October.
Record prices in November and December
On Breton dials – the “Wall streets of market gardening” as they are called West France – the price of the finest vegetables, six-piece crates of category I, amounted on average to 13 euros in November and almost 14.50 euros in December, or 2.40 euros per cauliflower, according to FranceAgriMer data.
It is difficult, however, to establish a producer price based on these trading rooms alone. Breton producers, established in three cooperatives grouped under the Prince de Bretagne brand, also sell to shippers, intermediaries responsible for reselling vegetables to various customers such as the food industry, mass distribution, etc. “A portion of our volumes have been pre-sold in June 2023” to these intermediaries at a fixed price, recalls Julien Quillévéré. If production is affected in certain months of the year, producers then run the risk of selling at a loss during these periods.
If farmers’ incomes fluctuate, the prices paid by consumers also vary. Before arriving on our plate, cauliflower can also go through a wholesale market, in Lyon or even Bordeaux, thus adding intermediaries. We must also add the cost of transport, packaging, distributor margin… In supermarkets, the head of cauliflower was offered on average between 4 and 4.38 euros in November and December, according to figures from FranceAgriMer .
An amount that may seem high for our wallets, but with a single vegetable we feed several mouths, Julien Quillévéré would like to point out: “We prepare a meal for a family of four or five people with a head of cauliflower. We are at one euro per portion, it remains a relatively cheap vegetable. »