Several dozen dairy producers demonstrated on Wednesday in Vannes (Morbihan) and Champagné (Sarthe) to demand an increase in the price of milk paid to farmers.
"
What we are seeing today is the discrepancy between the (price of) milk paid by the consumer in Germany or Belgium compared to what he pays in France
", denounced to a correspondent of AFP, present on the spot, Ghislain de Viron, president of the dairy section of the FDSEA of Sarthe, at the initiative of this action.
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"In milk, we talk more about deflation than inflation"
Present among the fifty people gathered Wednesday morning in front of the Intermarché de Champagné in the east of Le Mans, he is campaigning for a revaluation of the prices paid to farmers whom he considers "
disconnected
" from reality.
In France, a liter of milk costs the consumer 78 cents against 99 cents in Germany and 1.05 euro in Belgium, according to figures reported by the agricultural union.
"
If we speak in constant euros (a price corrected for inflation in relation to a reference date, editor's note), the 1000 liters of milk were paid to producers 286 euros in 1991, we are at 238 euros in 2021. In milk , we are talking more about deflation than inflation
,” added Ghislain de Viron.
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In Vannes, there were about fifteen of them on the shelves of the Leclerc Center to carry out price surveys, Marie-Andrée Luherne, president of the FDSEA of Morbihan, told AFP.
"
We have decided to take off the shelves all the milk whose liter sells for less than one euro (...) Our objective is that on September 1st we are aligned with our European neighbors and that no liter of milk is sold for less than one euro
,” she told AFP.
To do this, one of the major objectives is the “
strengthening of the Egalim law
”, the application of which is deemed “
insufficient
” for the FDSEA.
Promulgated in 2018 then recast in 2021, the Egalim law aims to "
protect farmers' remuneration
", by obliging manufacturers and supermarkets to take into account farmers' production costs.
