September 16, 2005

 

Positive show despite mixed outlook for French poultry and agriculture

 

An eFeedLink exclusive report

 

  

The SPACE expo in Rennes ends Friday on an upbeat note, even as the French and European agriculture industry continue to struggle with problems of high production costs and declining growth.

 

                       A record 35,628 visitors attended the third day of the four-day SPACE expo in France

 

Organisers of the Salon de la Production Agricole-Carrefour Europeen, better known by its acronym SPACE, had earlier identified several key challenges facing Europe's intensive animal farming sector. Poultry meat exports, say the organisers, have fallen by 20 percent in the last three years while imports of poultry meat from Thailand and Brazil have risen in that period. Today, poultry imports account for at least 10 percent of domestic consumption within the EU.

 

New EU regulations on animal health and nutrition also threaten to stifle an already tight production environment for French poultry farmers. Production has fallen by 2 percent over the past year, or 15 percent cumulatively over the last 6 years. Coping with declining gross margins and high depreciation costs has become a reality for the almost 1,000 poultry producers in western France, said Jean-Paul Micault, a member of Fermier le Janze, a cooperative of French poultry farmers in Janze, a farming area in France's western region of Brittany.

 

As a result, Micault noted that farmers have been generally reluctant to invest in upgrading facilities. The situation is also no better for layer farmers, he said, with egg prices in France falling to record low levels earlier this year owing to over-supply. Egg prices have since steadied at about EUR5/kg.

 

Adding to problems of costs is that of weak demand. Per capita meat consumption in France has fallen, the result of changing dietary habits and supermarkets picking up on new consumer trends by stocking up on a variety of non-traditional foods and non-meat protein alternatives. High production and labour costs have also been blamed for the "uncompetitive state of local (French) agriculture on the world trading stage," said a participant at the expo.

 

Cooperatives like Fermier le Janze are nonetheless helping farmers stand their ground amid a changing, competitive global environment. Exports and expansion are not the focus; rather, finding and fulfilling niche market demand is. Micault himself is the owner of a free-range broiler farm in St Armel, a village about 50 km from the SPACE expo centre in Rennes.

 

Free-range broiler meat currently fetches a market price double that of chicken farmed commercially in coops, he said, reflecting demand in a sophisticated consumer market for "naturally farmed" meat products. Fermier le Janze also aids farmers in packaging and marketing their produce throughout the country.

 

        

     Chickens roaming at one of the free-range broiler        Free-range whole chicken packed for the market.

     farms belonging to the Fermier le Janze cooperative.

Providing the greatest optimism yet is an earlier visit by the show's guests of honour--French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and his agriculture minister Dominique Bussereau--which local media reports have lauded as being "not without significance". The two dignitaries, said reports, have not "come with empty hands" and were well armed with a slew of measures to aid local farmers. 

 

Recognising that French farmers are facing the same global competition affecting agricultural producers in Europe, the prime minister in his first ever address on agriculture, affirmed that the reformed EU Common Agricultural Policy will proceed within the framework outlined by the WTO. He reassured the French agricultural community that "certain lines will not be crossed" even while the major task lies in keeping in step with Europe's system of preferences.

 

French agriculture, he said, will continue to proceed along the lines of national interests, yet in balance with regional and global economics. Measures announced to help farmers cope with rising fuel and energy costs, as well as develop alternative fuel sources, were well received and applauded by the community.

 

The four-day SPACE expo has seen visitor arrivals reaching a record number of 35,628 on the third day alone, or 87,917 visitors in the first three days, said the organisers. SPACE 2006 will be held on Sep 12-15 at the same venue.

 

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