Costs go up, prices go down
“War” for France’s cheap baguettes
01/30/2022, 06:09 am
With flour, energy and wages, the price of the baguette, symbol and basic product of the French diet, should also increase. But France’s leading retail group drastically lowers the price again, triggering a storm of indignation.
The media are calling the dispute currently raging in France the “baguette war.” The question is: What is our most popular bread actually still worth? It all started just over a week ago, when the large supermarket chain Leclerc announced a reduction in the price of a baguette: to 29 cents. For the French, the baguette is not just a piece of bread, but a pillar of culture and the most eaten bread in the country. Especially at the weekend, people queue up in front of a number of bakeries to go home with a baguette under their arm – and they often taste a piece of the oven-warm bread on the go.
In order to protect the purchasing power of the French in a difficult situation, Lecrerc announced in large newspaper advertisements that the price would be reduced for four months. “The light baguette is a basic product for hundreds of thousands of French families who have to pay attention to every euro when shopping,” argued company boss Michel-Edouard Leclerc. Farmers and the baking industry promptly stormed the price, with which Leclerc could not earn any money given the currently rising costs for flour, for example, according to their calculations. The accusation was that groceries were being sold off and high-quality handcrafted products were being devalued.
“While the know-how and quality of French baguettes are recognized by Unesco, the excellence of the farmers, grain producers, millers and bakers that the world envies is being squandered,” said the agricultural association FNSEA. Statistically, the average price for a baguette in 2021 was 90 cents, and in addition to flour prices, energy and labor costs are also currently rising.
Consumers vote with purchasing behavior
The waves in the baguette price discussion swept so high that even Economics Minister Bruno Le Maire spoke up. In an interview, he defended consumer freedom of choice. If you want a high-quality baguette, you can go to the artisan baker and pay a little more. On the other hand, if you have to look at the money, the offer will suit you.
So while many French people are likely to benefit from the prices when they go to the supermarket every day, industry is complaining – especially the grain sector. The Leclerc boss, on the other hand, calculates that even if the price of flour increases by 30 percent, a baguette will only be one cent more expensive. Customers responded to the price reduction.
The whole thing has been hyped up as a “baguette gate,” says trade expert Olivier Dauvers, who described the protest as lobbying. The silent mass of consumers, many of whom have to look at the money, vote with their buying behavior – and this gave Leclerc and Lidl an increased market share in 2021.
Lidl has also reduced the price in the meantime. “Of course I do it with regret, but if the leading French retailer commits itself to a price for a product as symbolic as the baguette, the entire retail trade will follow him,” said Lidl France boss Michel Biero to the broadcaster RMC. For ten years, the supermarket price for a baguette has been 35 cents. Because of increased costs, an increase to 39 cents was actually considered.