The Brazilian Minister of Agriculture this Monday supported companies in the meat sector in their decision to no longer supply Carrefour group stores in the country.
A measure that only applies in France
The controversy began on Wednesday, when the general director of Carrefour, Alexandre Bompard, wrote to the majority agricultural union FNSEA that the supermarket chain “will not sell meat from Mercosur.”
An announcement linked to France’s opposition to the proposed trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and four Mercosur countries – Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay -, in a context of demonstrations by French farmers who fear that this agreement open the door to unfair negotiations. competence.
However, the French group stressed that its refusal to sell meat from Mercosur countries only applies to Carrefour stores in France. But this announcement sparked strong outrage in Brazil, particularly from the powerful agricultural trade sector.
In a joint statement, several sector associations declared on Thursday that “if Alexandre Bompard defends that Mercosur is not a supplier worthy of the French market (…), it should not supply Carrefour in any other country,” including Brazil.
Suspension of supply
The Brazilian giant JBS, world number one in the meat sector, has not commented on this situation. But a source from this company confirmed that JBS had indeed “completely suspended the supply of beef to Carrefour group stores in Brazil”, due to “the indignation of the entire sector over this attack on Brazilian products.”
“We deeply regret this situation and reaffirm our esteem and confidence in the Brazilian agricultural sector, with which we have always maintained a solid collaboration,” also declared the group, which has 130,000 employees in Brazil.
The president of the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil, Arthur Lira, criticized on Monday “European protectionism, especially that of France vis-à-vis Brazil.” “It is not possible that the general director of an important group like Carrefour does not recant after some comments (that imply) not buying more animal proteins from South America,” he insisted during a conference in Sao Paulo.
Source: BFM TV
