Sociologist Jean Viard, research director at the CNRS, today talks about the repercussions and causes of the sharp rise in foodstuffs on franceinfo. The price of wheat, for example, is reaching levels not seen for 10 years. Palm oil is at its all-time high. Rising prices also for meat, sugar and dairy products because less was produced in the world last year or when demand is particularly strong. Sometimes it’s even both at the same time.
So in all over one year, the United Nations noted an increase of more than 30% in the price of a basic food basket. We are talking about international prices, but there are very concrete repercussions as far as France, up to a possible change of a few cents on the price of the baguette.
franceinfo: France may well be an agricultural nation, an exporter in this area, we can see that there is no food sovereignty. In any case, not on the prices?
Jean Viard: No, but anyway, we are in an open European market and that allows some to provide when others lack. I don’t believe that food sovereignty is necessarily a central objective, but we have to be careful, because for a year and a half, it was announced that there were a million more unemployed. It didn’t happen. Then it was announced that there will be a million more poor people. Yesterday IINSEE showed us that this was not true. So, be careful with catastrophic speeches. So it’s true, the increase in the cost of energy is indisputable. And besides, that’s why there was a part of compensation.
On food issues, it’s very different because the raw material is only part of the product. Take the Camembert, which is worth on average 1.5 euros and has risen to 1.55 euros. So there are 5 cents of increase because obviously, the increase in the price of wheat, behind there is the work of the farmer, the work of the salesperson, the margin of the supermarket which, they do not have moved. So, that’s why we have to be very careful.
There may be small increases a priori, but occasional, and in large part, this is indeed due to the season which was extremely bad in terms of agriculture. But the coming winter season will be excellent. So, let’s say that it is a bump which must a priori be partly cyclical.
What does the share of food in the French budget represent today and how has this evolved over time?
If we take 50 years ago, it was about 30% of the budget that was devoted to it. But that’s an average, of course. And then today, it’s around 17%. So there is a significant drop. But after that, it depends for whom. Because the smaller the budget, the greater the share of food, obviously, because food is the first expense that cannot be eliminated. But basically, we did not halve the share of food, but almost.
And it is clear that in the movement where we are now with quality research, etc. and then the demand of the farmers to be a little correctly remunerated, there is indeed a very slight tendency to increase the share of food in the budgets, with the big question of equality for the popular mediums.
Do you think this increase will accelerate? Because you said it, food is also well-being, and today it is the object of a contemporary quest. Are the French ready to put more money into their food budget?
It is above all a cultural question. Take for example the districts of the 16th arrondissement, and then the bobos districts in the new Parisian districts. You can see that food has rather increased in the neighborhoods, I was going to say “bobo”. There is a whole cultural reflection on the place of meat, on what we eat, the body we wear, while in rich neighborhoods, basically, that has not changed. So, this is to say that the question is cultural.
For example, are we going to decrease the amount of meat on a plate and then increase the amount of vegetables? If you do, that’s it, the price of the plate goes down. So there is a big question about the evolution of diet because we no longer have the same body. We live a long time, we no longer have very physical activities, so we want to be nourished differently, etc. Certainly with much less meat. It is complicated. I would say that it is more the evolution of the diet that will in fact determine the level of the cost of food and diet.