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Chicory may be one of the cheapest vegetables at the moment, but producers are struggling to sell their goods. Production costs are on the rise. Market gardeners in Nord-Pas-de-Calais are asking consumers to return to chicory, because 4,000 jobs depend on it.
Endive, or chicory, is the emblematic vegetable of northern France. Praised during confinement, it is now shunned by consumers. “I don’t buy too many. I like it, but I don’t like to eat it too much”says a buyer. On market stalls, chicory sells for 1 to 1.50 euro per kilo, which is barely the producer’s selling price.
The winter vegetable needs darkness, and a constant temperature of 18 to 20 degrees to grow. With the rise in energy prices, Olivier Lefebvre, producer, saw his electricity bill soar. “I was at 500 euros a month, I’m coming to 1,200 [euros]”he confides. The price of packaging has also increased. “I cannot pass on to the consumer, [il] is having trouble buying the merchandise right now”he laments. Sales fall by 30% on average. The whole industry is now threatened. In 20 years, the region has already lost three quarters of its endiviers.
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