“I’ll stop you right away: don’t get tired, we won’t talk to you.” The sentence is released at Bigard’s headquarters, in Quimperlé (Finistère). The phone tone rings a few seconds later. Two days later, a similar scene occurred, this time at the Agricultural Show. On the stand of the Pays de la Loire region, between the Charolais and Limousin cows, an organic breeder working with Auchan exclaims, proudly: “A journalist came to my farm for a day and a half. He asked me for the figures. I didn’t give up!” The secret is well kept. However, it is not a question of nuclear codes, nor even of a reprehensible practice, but… of the price of a kilo of meat.
In mass distribution, prices vary depending on the pieces, but also according to the departments and supermarkets. The Reflets de France Limousine breed rib steak sells for 38.14 euros per kilo at Carrefour. In a Super U de l’Aude, the Charal steak climbs to 39.37 euros per kilo. The price range becomes even more extensible when we look at minced steaks: 14.56 euros per kilo “Le Limousin butcher style” from the Carrefour brand, or 18.10 euros per kilo of pure beef minced meat Jean Rozé, price displayed in an Intermarché in Bastia. How much does meat cost? To understand the prices, and a little of the causes of the current agricultural crisis, L’Express sought to retrace the journey of a bovine from its meadow to your plate, step by step. Dive into secrets as well kept as the Coca-Cola recipe.
Imagine Rosalie, a Limousine with a chocolate coat and peaceful eyes. A beautiful beast weighing 700 kilos, which has evolved all its life in the pastures of Haute-Vienne. After giving birth to several calves, the animal prepares to leave for the slaughterhouse. Before evaluating its final price, let’s first determine how much the cow costs its breeder.
A variable production cost
Charles Muller, whose farm is located on the outskirts of the village of Magnac-Laval, a fifty-minute drive from Limoges, has known dozens of Rosalies. However, this cattle connoisseur struggles to quantify what a cow costs him. Like many breeders, he is at the mercy of variable factors, ranging from weather conditions (will we have to order hay this summer, to cope with the drought?) to the vagaries of life (how much will the costs be? veterinarians?). The National Bovine Federation (FNB) nevertheless gives an average price, based on a clever calculation including charges, animal feed and the breeder’s salary, twice the minimum wage. “We estimate the cost of producing a cow at 6.20 euros per kilo,” explains Marie Penn, project manager at FNB. Add a few cents – “around 20” – if the cow must meet the requirements of the Red Label, a promise of superior quality meat. Before arriving at the slaughterhouse, the cow can be transported by its breeder’s cooperative. A private buyer, an additional intermediary in the chain, can also come and select it. In the first case, the animal is sold to the slaughterer. Otherwise, it is the buyer who pays the breeder.
The price per kilo of Rosalie is not fixed, and changes from week to week. Many of the farmers interviewed told us that they were selling their cows today “at around 5.30 euros” per kilo. “That’s a loss of 80 euro cents per kilo,” explains Marie Penn. The Egalim law, which aims to improve the remuneration of farmers by organizing a tripartite negotiation between the breeder, the slaughterer (Bigard, for example) and a large area – often represented by its purchasing center -, is not practiced always, or badly. This shortfall is directly reflected in the farmer’s remuneration. Enough to better understand the malaise of the sector.
Once sold at the price of 5.30 euros per kilo, Rosalie is sent to one of the 230 slaughterhouses in France. One clarification: the slaughterer does not pay for the entire weight of the cow – around 700 kilos – but for the weight of its carcass, around 450 kilos, once the head and legs have been removed. Rosalie, having become a carcass, is then sold – generally to a butcher. The slaughterer charges 1 to 2 euros per kilo for his services. A cow carcass sells for 6.30 euros to 7.30 euros per kilo to a butcher.
30 to 35% margin for butchers
Arriving at the butcher, the cow is cut up. The carcass becomes a multitude of pieces, flank steak, sirloin steak, rump steak. On the butcher’s stalls, its price is exploding. It goes from 6.30 euros to purchase to 12.15 euros excluding tax, or 14.30 euros including VAT. This significant increase in the price of Rosalie can be explained by two factors. Part of the animal is unfit for consumption, the bones and certain bits of fat will not be recycled. Only 70% of the animal’s weight can be used, butchers calculate. To cover their costs and not lose money on each transaction, these professionals consider that it is necessary to calculate the price of meat on the basis of 9 euros per kilo excluding taxes. To this sum is added their margin. “We consider that our butchers need to apply a margin rate of 30 to 35% to ensure the functioning of their businesses,” explains Philippe Nompeix, general director of the Bègles slaughterhouse, and of the Girondin breeders’ group. These figures are an average: the price of meat on the butcher’s stall will vary depending on the quality of the cut, with Rosalie’s “rear sides” (the fillet, the sirloin, the entrecôte) costing more than the “fronts”. ” (which make up the minced steak).
If the meat is intended for a large area, the fate of its carcass is different. She is now moving into the world of industry. Large slaughterers, such as Bigard, leader in the sector, or Elivia and Kermené, from the Leclerc group, provide both slaughter and meat processing. In this case, no additional transaction. Like at the butcher, but with factory work rates, its carcass is first deboned and defatted. It then reaches the same price as at the artisan before he applies his margin: 9 euros per kilo excluding taxes.
Manufacturers are in no hurry to communicate their margins at this stage – when contacted, none of the sector leaders responded to our requests. An average, provided by the Observatory for the Formation of Prices and Margins of Food Products (OFPM), nevertheless makes it possible to assess the cost of this transformation at around 1 euro per kilo – a rather stable figure in recent years. Rosalie is therefore sold at around 10 euros per kilo excluding tax to major retail chains.
The black box of distributors
At this point, the product is now in pieces. Prime rib, entrecôte, filet… And minced steak, a favorite of the French shopping carts. The thousand pieces of Rosalie fall into a black box: that of the distributors. By adding the cost of operating supermarkets and their margin, we must add around 3.20 euros to Rosalie’s price. Our cow is therefore sold for 13.20 euros excluding tax on supermarket shelves, one euro more on average than in butcher shops. Once VAT is applied, its price rises to 15.53 euros per kilo.
This value again refers to OFPM trends. Because the margins of large stores have never been officially revealed. None of the major brands questioned responded to us, apart from Auchan. Although agreeing to praise the merits of its “traditional sector”, the distributor refused to give an amount. “The slaughterhouse manufacturers renegotiate the prices of minced steaks with mass retailers every six months. However, we have no idea of the amount of their margins,” assures Paul Rouche, director of Culture meat, the federation of meat companies. slaughter-cutting, convinced that the latter are “much higher” than the amount announced by the Observatory of price formation and margins.
However, if minced steaks are sold at 9, 8 or even 7 euros per kilo in supermarkets, this means that the shortfall has been made up elsewhere. “To cover their costs, distributors will modulate the different values of the pieces of meat,” explains Jean-Marc Escure, director of Limousin promotion, an association which brings together Limousin meat labels. Clearly, mass distribution can afford to sell certain pieces, such as chopped steak, very cheaply, or even “at a loss”, by making up for it on more noble pieces, through a pendulum effect.
Furthermore, large retailers buy pieces of meat from manufacturers, and not all of Rosalie. In order to restore their margins, large brands can buy much cheaper parts abroad. In 2022, beef imports have increased by almost 23% compared to the previous year, according to figures from FranceAgriMer. Will the French end up eating more Rosalia than Rosalie?
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