The slaughtering companies federated in the Culture Viande union alerted, Tuesday February 20, four days before the Agricultural Show, about the difficulties of the sector, in “overcapacity” due to the decline in livestock numbers and faced with high costs. “Since September, there has been a slaughterhouse which closes every month and, since the beginning of the year, (…) practically two slaughterhouses which have closed [chaque mois] »declared the director of Culture Viande, Paul Rouche, during a press conference.
Out of 230 slaughterhouses in France, those which have closed are mainly “small and medium-sized slaughterhouses”stunned by the surge in their production costs (electricity, transport, packaging, etc.), he added.
Culture Viande defends the interests of nearly 300 companies in the slaughtering and cutting and wholesale trade of butcher’s meat (excluding poultry). These companies, including the leader Bigard, employ 36,000 people.
Closures or restructuring will affect “also the biggest slaughterhouses”because “we find ourselves with excess slaughter capacity” due to the decline in French livestock, forcing sites to operate only four days a week, added the president of the organization, Yves Fantou.
“Without production, there is no more slaughter”
In seven years, the number of cows has fallen by almost a million head to around seven million. And, in the year 2023 alone, ” we lost (…) two million pigs, which is enormous, which represents [le volume traité par] a big, big French slaughterhouse”said Mr. Fantou, at the head of a Breton company with around sixty employees.
This drop in the number of animals inflates their price: + 35% since 2021 for large cattle, + 50% for pigs.
Even better paid, cattle breeders consider prices still too low to cover their production costs and the erosion of the herd continues. Producers are demanding the application of Egalim laws intended to prevent them from selling at a loss. Until now, recognized Paul Rouche, “Egalim had no effect on the prices paid to breeders. It is the drop in supply which is at the origin of the increase in animal prices”.
However, assured Yves Fantou, “the slaughterers have understood that without production, there is no more slaughter. So we must have breeders who are well paid and who must be supported”.