Fruits, vegetables and meats… The strong messages of the Comader

Since the first weeks of soaring food prices, market intermedia­ries have been singled out. Their responsibility was quickly pinpointed. However, the latter have been part of the circuit for several years. “They have always existed, and we still need them, otherwise the activity will be im­pacted”.

Rachid Benali, president of the Comader confederation, was crys­tal clear. Invited at the Ftour -debate of L’Economiste, on Tuesday, April 18, the president of the confederation nevertheless pointed to the responsibi­lity of certain «intruders». In the past, farmers were able to reach the end of the chain. They sold their products at harvest time. Nevertheless, with the difficulties that farmers are increasin­gly experiencing, “market interme­diaries have started to buy products on the vine or on the field. They resell the harvest to a second intermediary, who resells it in turn, before the goods reach the wholesale market”, explai­ned Rachid Benali. Intermediaries ob­tain the products well before this stage. “ They buy Rosaceae, just after they flower ”. Before, this was an exception that concerned a few farmers with financial difficulties. Today, “this is due to the fact that farmers did really suffer during the Covid crisis. They found themselves in debt or lacking liquidity”. It is in this context also that the farmers were obliged to sell their products to intermediaries and to speculators, we were told. The latter rely on the availability of cash. Des­pite these difficulties, which have had an impact on the cost of the grocery basket, Benali insisted on the fact that “we must consider ourselves lucky to still have these price levels. It could have been worse”, he said, because, beyond the responsibility of the inter­mediaries in the soaring prices, other structural factors contributed to this si­tuation. The president of Comader re­calls that this is a difficult international situation. “We are not the only ones to have experienced this phenome­non. Other countries are in the same situation, in particular Spain or Italy which, for example, produce a greater volume of tomatoes, but which found themselves with large price increases” This situation is linked in particular to the effects of climate change, which affects several countries, particularly those in the Mediterranean. “ We saw the crisis coming, but it was difficult to react to things that we have no control over ”, noted Benali.

M.A.M.