French poultry farmers have a long wish list

“The sector is encouraged by the announcements by the prime minister and the president of the republic, particularly with regards to Mercosur, Ukraine and the identification of the origin of products. But we assume that this is no more than a first step,” Anvol says.

One of the main concerns of French poultry producers – the massive imports of poultry meat and products – has not been addressed. The government “made some right noise” regarding the “disloyal imports of cheap products” but they’re far from sufficient to really address the problem.

Poultry imports and exports

Recent figures from the agricultural statistics service Agreste show that in 2023 France imported poultry and poultry products from all over the world to the value of €1.814 million – this is over 4% more than in 2022. Exports of the same products came to €769 million, which is more or less the same as in the previous year. That resulted in a massive negative trade balance for poultry meat and products of just over €1 billion, some €70 million more than in the previous year, confirming a trend that has continued for several years now.

In weight, in the month of November alone, France imported 74,300 tonnes of poultry meat and preparations while exports amounted to 40,100 tonnes, resulting in a negative balance of 34,200 tonnes. Although French supermarkets mostly sell only chicken, turkey or ducks from French producers, meat processors as well as the hospitality sector still use a lot of foreign-sourced products. In fact, according to Anzol, 50% of chicken consumed in France comes from abroad.

France’s domestic production

The figures also show that France in the last month of 2023 slaughtered some 53.1 million chickens, which is 4.4% less than a year earlier. The slaughter of turkeys was down by 2.1% at 3.4 million heads. Over the year 2023, the total number of poultry – all kinds included – slaughtered still was up just 0.1% thanks to higher slaughter figures for ducks after a number of years of steep declines because of the avian influenza epidemics that have hit France hard.

Since France has to import so much chicken meat and meat products, Anvol demands that all products from abroad should at least have been produced under the same standards and regulations as in France, particularly regarding antibiotics.

Imports from South America

The organisation here points particularly to Brazil and other countries in South America, the so-called Mercosur block that is negotiating a trade deal with the EU that would allow for a strong increase of the imports of meat from those countries to the European market.

“The 500,000 tonnes of Brazilian chicken meat that enter the EU market each year already are quite enough. The only option for us is an immediate stop of all negotiations with Mercosur,” the French organisation underlines. “Although the EU bans the import of soja from deforestation areas, at the same time it opens its borders to Brazilian chicken that has been fed with soja from those same areas,” Anvol notes.

Ukrainian chicken meat

The French poultry organisation also questions the concessions the EU recently made regarding the import of cheap agricultural products, including poultry, from Ukraine.

“We are happy that the government has listened to our problems with the arrival of massive quantities of Ukrainian chicken in France. However, the threshold for a limit on the import of these products is far too high. The reference is based on the years 2022 and 2023, which is a volume of 200,000 tonnes. To protect the EU market against this influx of cheap products, the threshold should be based on the level from before the war, being 90,000 tonnes.”