The baguette price war rages on. After Leclerc, it’s Lidl’s turn to launch into baguette bread at 29 cents, to counter the general rise in prices affecting the French. “We launch our 29 cent baguette with regret. We are forced to fall in line when the biggest distributor launches a 29 cent baguette. Others have done it and others will but it is not very responsible”, assures this Thursday on RMC and RMC Story Michel Biero, the executive director of Lidl France.
For him, this drop in the price of the entry-level baguette, in its 1,580 stores in France, is an aberration as the price of wheat increases. “It’s fueling a price war that is destructive of values. It sends a dramatic message to the agricultural world in great distress. With the rise in raw materials, it’s not very responsible,” he adds.
“We are undergoing increases that I have never experienced, especially on wheat. We wondered if we were not going to have to raise our baguette to 39 cents when we sell it at 35 cents. And the Monday after, we hear that the leader of the distribution lowers it to 29 cents. The whole distribution will follow it, “predicts Michel Biero.
The executive director of Lidl fears the anger of the agricultural world, while the president of the national confederation of French bakery-pastry, Dominique Anract, spoke on January 12 the day after Leclerc’s announcement, “a declaration of war” and “prices deliberately destroying values”. “We must properly remunerate the actors, those who plant, those who harvest, who assemble the grains and make the flour. What Leclerc does is shameful”, added Jean-François Loiseau, the president of the National Association of French Milling.
“There will be inflation of 3 to 3.5%”
“Leclerc breaks while doing low cost. It’s scandalous. He is customary for the fact. He is bleeding French agriculture. If there are bankruptcies, if there is a reduction in the number of farmers, this distributor-there bears a great responsibility”, had also tackled on RMC and RMC Story the president of the FNSEA Christiane Lambert, on January 13th.
“We will continue to support the agricultural world by signing tripartite agreements. The French want to continue to eat French and for that we must continue to preserve the agricultural world”, promises Michel Biero. “It is not this baguette that will harm the agricultural world. It is a symbol, Michel-Edouard Leclerc says it himself, but it is disastrous, just like the pork chop at 1.69 euros at certain distributors”, believes for his part Michel Biero.
Despite the situation, he is not worried: “There will be inflation of 3 to 3.5% but it is not this food inflation that will have the greatest impact on the purchasing power of the French”, assures Michel Biero more fearful of rising energy-related prices.
Energy prices in December posted an increase of 18.6% over one year. On the food side, the rise in prices rose to 1.4%, largely fueled by that of fresh products (3.3%) while the labels of manufactured products had increased in 2021 by 1.2%.
>> READ ALSO – Baguette at 29 cents: “Leclerc is bleeding French agriculture” loose Christiane Lambert, president of the FNSEA