The French consumers want more ready-to-eat products and look for fast service
EuroMeatNews: How much beef did France produce so far this year? How are the volumes compared to previous years?
Guy Hermouet: France is the European country with the largest number of cattle: 18.9 million head of cattle of which 4.04 million meat breed cows and 3.79 million of dairy breed cows.
France produced in 2017 1.5 million tonnes of beef. For 2018, the production is slightly increasing: +2%, because of the strong draught this summer that has reduced forage availability for the winter period and has brought more cattle to slaughter.
France also exported 1.6 million head of cattle in 2017, being the number one cattle exporter in Europe. Of this, more than 980,000 head of cattle are sent to Italy and more than 490,000 to Spain.
EMN: How much of France’s meat production is exported? Which are the main export destinations?
GH: 15% of our national production is exported, which represents 222,000 tonnes in 2017. This export volume has been stable for several years.
France exports around 43,000 tons of beef offals around the planet, an extra source of income for French companies.
Our main market remains the European Union, which accounts for 93% of our exports (mainly to Italy – 74,000 tonnes; Greece – 44, 000 tonnes and Germany – 42, 000 tonnes).
Third Countries represent 15,000 tonnes in 2017. This percentage is small but it is increasing rapidly every year. Between 2013 and 2017, our exports to Third countries have increased by around 10% each year. Main Third Country clients are Hong Kong, Israël, Turkey, Algeria, and Tunisia.
EMN: What can you tell us about French consumer trends in the last couple of years? How is the domestic meat consumption compared to other EU countries?
GH: In France, like in other European countries, the meat consumption is in fast change. The French want to eat more ready-to-eat products and look for fast service.
This has some consequences on the meat sector, which is compelled to take into account new retail forms: for example, the drives or smaller shops, closer to the housing areas. It also has consequences on the style of meat eaten: burgers, tartares, carpaccios, nibbling pieces of meat for aperitif.
Finally, consumers are now interested in the production conditions of their food. Our meat sector is aware of this and will be taking into account, even more, the environmental, welfare and consumer health aspects. Concerning the beef consumption data, France’s consumption has a slow tendency to decrease (- 1,7% in 2017) but since the beginning of the year 2018, the tendency is to increase slightly: +2,3%. The following chart shows meat consumption evolution in Europe from 2005 to 2017.
EMN: How much beef did France import in the first half of 2018 compared with the similar period from 2017? Which were the main suppliers?
GH: From January to July 2018, France imported 191,500 tonnes of beef, compared to 2017 (same period): 185,000 tonnes, which means an increase in imports of +3,6%: the restaurants have been selling more beef based meals
(burgers, steaks). The main countries from which we import are: the Netherlands for beef and veal meat, much appreciated in France
(46,000 tonnes, +3%), Germany mainly adult cow meat, which is red meat (34,000 tonnes, +4%), Ireland (32,000 tonnes, +1,3%) and Poland in 4th rank (20,500 tonnes). We import very small quantities of beef meat from Third Countries (only 5,500 tonnes since the beginning of the year, of that 1,600
tonnes are from Switzerland).
EMN: What new markets is the French meat industry targeting?
GH: The French meat industry has been working closely for a long time with its first clients in three European countries: Italy, Germany, and Greece.
Due to historical context, the French meat industry is also very close to North African countries like Algeria and Tunisia. In the last two years, the industry has started to target the Israeli market as the Israeli authorities wish to increase the European quota for fresh meat from 10,000 to 12,500 tonnes this year and will be increasing it up to 18,500 tonnes. This is a real opportunity for French beef and INTERBEV has started in 2018 a new European communication campaign with the help of European funds.
Also, since 2017, the French industry wishes to develop its sales in Asian countries. French companies have started to collaborate closely with Hong Kong importers and to develop their sales in this country (5,000 tonnes of beef and offals in 2017). In order to help business, INTERBEV has a strong communication plan now in Hong Kong around “French Beef a Taste of Terroirs” (targeting professionals, importers, local chefs and, since September 2018, final consumers with a French beef festival in restaurants and supermarkets).
EMN: Are French meat producers taking any steps to reduce the usage of plastic in packaging for their products?
GH: The French meat and cattle Industry is globally committed in a process to improve every day the sustainability of its production through improvement of nutrition facts, environmental impact (i.e.: decrease of GHG production of cattle farms through the Life Beef Carbon European Program, regular discussions with French environment NGOs but also innovation in packaging) animal welfare (regular discussions with French welfare NGOs, guidance of good practices already used and new ones in process). Our global sustainable production framework is called PACTE (Pacte pour un Engagement Societal) in which
we promote the following values within our industry: Progress; Future; Discussions with NGOs and civil society; ransparency; Expertise.
INTERBEV has received in June 2018 the level 3 (out of 4) of RSO (Sustainable Development of Organizations) norm also called ISO 26000.
EMN: What is INTERBEV’s strategy to support the meat industry?
GH: A year ago, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, asked agribusiness interprofessional associations to establish ambitious plans to implement future strategies specific to each sector. Since then INTERBEV Bovins went into operation to establish and to put into action a sector plan focusing on the upscaling of the offer from the beef meat herd to ensure the
consumer:
• The quality of the product when tasting it;
• The superior societal qualities (environment, animal welfare and nutritional quality);
The fair prices for the breeders. Prices have to take into account production costs. The goal is to achieve 40% of
the offer in “Label Rouge” quality Label within 5 years.
On export aspects, it is important to increase France’s exports of meat in Europe and Third Countries. In Europe, we have
collective brands such as Charoluxe (in Germany) and Bovillage (in Greece) that are carried out by French companies and that are supported by INTERBEV to keep up the good image of French meat amongst meat buyers. New campaigns will be set up in Italy, Germany, and Greece in 2019 in order to better address the European market which is more and more concerned about transparency, cattle production, environment and animal welfare.
In Third Countries, INTERBEV’s actions are numerous:
• Helping French Government to negotiate the access to new markets : sanitary negotiations;
• Giving French companies an overview of different markets: market studies and reports;
• Helping French companies to develop their business abroad: organization of professional events and BtoB meeting;
• Promoting the new identity for French Beef “French Beef, a Taste of Terroirs”, with promotional plans in China, Hong Kong and Japan.
A communication plan supported by the EU: “Taste the Best, European beef”, set up by INTERBEV for 3 years in Algeria and Israel.
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