After a golden decade, lavender producers have been experiencing a violent crisis since the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine. So much so that their production costs are now twice as high as market prices, in particular due to the increase in energy costs for collection and distillation. As a result, France is experiencing massive overproduction of lavender and lavandin cultivation.
In an attempt to rebalance the market, Parliament voted last year on a €10 million plan to support the sector, either in the form of grubbing-up subsidies or aid for maintaining crops. The European Commission on Tuesday approved the French aid scheme (for €9 million) under the "temporary crisis and transition framework in terms of state aid" in order to "encourage support measures in key sectors to accelerate the ecological transition and reduce fuel dependencies". It is a question of directly supporting lavender farmers "strongly impacted by the economic context resulting from Russia's military aggression against Ukraine", argues the Commission.
At the same time, the sector is facing a decline in its outlets. The essential oils market is affected by the revision of European regulations, REACH, on chemical substances. Emmanuel Macron had promised to fight to defend French washerwomen in Brussels. The battle is not yet won.