A supermarket chain has raised a national controversy by offering the baguette at 0.29 euros, a third of what a traditional bakery makes. The farmers ‘and bakers’ unions, as well as political leaders, have shouted to heaven for the “shameful” initiative, at a time when purchasing power is one of the main concerns of the French.
In France, you don’t play with bread, and even less with the baguette, national gastronomic heritage and inflation thermometer for the pocket of the citizen. For this reason, when the Leclerc group announced this week that it would offer in its supermarkets, and for four months, the baguette at 0.29 euros (a third less than it costs in the traditional bakery on the corner), the reactions were not they did wait.
For the economic sector that depends on wheat it was a declaration of war. Cereal producers, millers and bakers, as well as the FNSEA, the main agricultural union, denounced in a joint press release “prices that deliberately destroy values”.
They were outraged by a “demagogic” announcement at a time when “cereal prices, and therefore of flour, are high, production costs (wages, etc.) increase considerably and the average price of a baguette in France in 2021, according to INSEE (the French national statistical institute), will be 0, 90 euros “.
“We try to preserve jobs and quality, but this comes at a cost: We have to pay adequately the people involved, those who plant, harvest, assemble the grains and make the flour, and those who make the bread. What Leclerc does is shameful, “Jean-François Loiseau, president of the French National Association of Millers, told AFP.
Since wheat prices have risen by around 30% in one year, Loiseau wonders “where the Leclerc group buys its flour” and “with what products is it going to compensate”.
“Mr. Leclerc will have to explain to us how and how much he pays the bakers with a 29 cent baguette,” reacted Christiane Lambert, head of the FNSEA.
For its part, the business group leader justified his commercial measure at times in which “flour suppliers have invoked the rise in the price of wheat to ask for considerable increases.” Leclerc defended before the media his choice of a “star product”, a “marker of inflation”, as he had done with fuel a few years ago. months.
“Extremely dangerous”
Three months before the presidential elections, everyone takes sides in the controversy, which affects the French idiosyncrasy.
“It is extremely dangerous,” judged the conservative presidential candidate, Valérie Pécresse- because we know that Leclerc centers will make up for it in the rest of the cart. It’s not really a measure of purchasing power, it’s a call-out product to bring customers to the store, and then there will be products that will be more expensive and thus they will recover their margin elsewhere. “
On the other side of the political spectrum, leftist leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon also denounced the initiative. “Obviously, this is a sale at a loss. It will result in the creation of a new damage, it will ruin bakers and pastry chefs, who can only affect their prices by rising energy and materials, “said Mélenchon.
Amid the controversy and the inflationary context, the National Assembly on Thursday rejected a bill proposed by Mélenchon, which sought to block certain prices in the event of a “social emergency.”
The presidential candidate of Insoum France and deputy of Bouches-du-Rhône he ardently defended his text for the freezing of the prices of energy (gas, electricity, fuel) and of five seasonal fruits and vegetables, in the face of accelerating inflation.
Industry Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher said the bill was “a bad answer to a good question.” He underscored the risks of blocking the economy and the black market, as in Venezuela, a country often cited by Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
“We are not going to take conservative ideas from the basement or old Marxist recipes from the attic.”said Deputy Guillaume Kasbarian, from the ruling Republic on the March party.
A supermarket chain has raised a national controversy by offering the baguette at 0.29 euros, a third of what a traditional bakery makes. The farmers ‘and bakers’ unions, as well as political leaders, have shouted to heaven for the “shameful” initiative, at a time when purchasing power is one of the main concerns of the French.
In France, you don’t play with bread, and even less with the baguette, national gastronomic heritage and inflation thermometer for the pocket of the citizen. For this reason, when the Leclerc group announced this week that it would offer in its supermarkets, and for four months, the baguette at 0.29 euros (a third less than it costs in the traditional bakery on the corner), the reactions were not they did wait.
For the economic sector that depends on wheat it was a declaration of war. Cereal producers, millers and bakers, as well as the FNSEA, the main agricultural union, denounced in a joint press release “prices that deliberately destroy values”.
They were outraged by a “demagogic” announcement at a time when “cereal prices, and therefore of flour, are high, production costs (wages, etc.) increase considerably and the average price of a baguette in France in 2021, according to INSEE (the French national statistical institute), will be 0, 90 euros “.
“We try to preserve jobs and quality, but this comes at a cost: We have to pay adequately the people involved, those who plant, harvest, assemble the grains and make the flour, and those who make the bread. What Leclerc does is shameful, “Jean-François Loiseau, president of the French National Association of Millers, told AFP.
Since wheat prices have risen by around 30% in one year, Loiseau wonders “where the Leclerc group buys its flour” and “with what products is it going to compensate”.
“Mr. Leclerc will have to explain to us how and how much he pays the bakers with a 29 cent baguette,” reacted Christiane Lambert, head of the FNSEA.
For its part, the business group leader justified his commercial measure at times in which “flour suppliers have invoked the rise in the price of wheat to ask for considerable increases.” Leclerc defended before the media his choice of a “star product”, a “marker of inflation”, as he had done with fuel a few years ago. months.
“Extremely dangerous”
Three months before the presidential elections, everyone takes sides in the controversy, which affects the French idiosyncrasy.
“It is extremely dangerous,” judged the conservative presidential candidate, Valérie Pécresse- because we know that Leclerc centers will make up for it in the rest of the cart. It’s not really a measure of purchasing power, it’s a call-out product to bring customers to the store, and then there will be products that will be more expensive and thus they will recover their margin elsewhere. “
On the other side of the political spectrum, leftist leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon also denounced the initiative. “Obviously, this is a sale at a loss. It will result in the creation of a new damage, it will ruin bakers and pastry chefs, who can only affect their prices by rising energy and materials, “said Mélenchon.
Amid the controversy and the inflationary context, the National Assembly on Thursday rejected a bill proposed by Mélenchon, which sought to block certain prices in the event of a “social emergency.”
The presidential candidate of Insoum France and deputy of Bouches-du-Rhône he ardently defended his text for the freezing of the prices of energy (gas, electricity, fuel) and of five seasonal fruits and vegetables, in the face of accelerating inflation.
Industry Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher said the bill was “a bad answer to a good question.” He underscored the risks of blocking the economy and the black market, as in Venezuela, a country often cited by Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
“We are not going to take conservative ideas from the basement or old Marxist recipes from the attic.”said Deputy Guillaume Kasbarian, from the ruling Republic on the March party.
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