With rising prices, the French are changing their eating habits and consuming less meat. This decline affects all fresh products.
French consumers no longer visit butcher shops as regularly. “I prefer to buy quality, set a price limit for myself and buy less,” says a customer on the channel France 2. Others replace meat with alternative foods: “With eggs, with fish, with lentils, with peas,” lists a woman. In 2022, meat consumption already decreased by more than 8%, which is mainly due to inflation.
Chicken fillet has also become more expensive
“Today, we are at about 11 euros for a good eater, a good portion, and earlier we were below ten euros,” explains Mickaël Hairault, head of the Huet butcher shop in Migné-Auxances (Vienne) on France 2. On average, the butcher has raised his prices by 7% and sees his customers’ sales shrink. Customers tend to buy the cheaper poultry, although its prices are also rising. A chicken fillet used to cost less than 15 euros per kilo. “Now we are just under 20 euros per kilo,” says Edouard Normand, managing director of the Normand butcher shop. The consumption of fresh foods has decreased by 6% on average over the year.