The butcher artisans will give voice this Tuesday in front of the Bourbon palace. Victims of the increases in energy prices that multiply their bills, a large number cannot take advantage of the aid plans for companies launched by the State, whose criteria are especially strict. “Today a professional who pays 1000 euros [pour se fournir en énergie chaque mois] You may very well have a bill multiplied by 3 or 4, explains Jean-François Guilhard on the set of BFM TV. Basically, it will go from 15,000 to 60,000 euros [par an]. Even if there is state aid, you will still have to pay 40,000 euros and it may be the fruit of your business that goes to electricity.
According to the different federations of artisan butchers, the rise in the cost of energy raises their annual bill from 20,000 to 40,000 euros. An order of magnitude that upsets the economic model of butcher shops that are usually small structures. “You can no longer invest, you will no longer be able to hire, continues Jean-François Guilhard. Since the prices of raw materials have increased by 12% on average in 2022 and that prices in stores have only increased by 7-8% The professionals have already taken on their margins, they can no longer take”.
A feared wave of bankruptcy proceedings at the beginning of 2023
Faced with this critical situation, butcher artisans are forced to seek solutions. “A restaurateur goes from 76 to 404 euros per kilowatt hour,” recalls Coralie Denoues, president of the Deux-Sèvres department who sent a letter to Bruno Le Maire on this subject. Her accountant told him that he had to increase his dishes by 10 euros. In the end it is the consumer who will suffer all his increases and without the employer being able to collect ”.
For his part, Mohamed Kilouli does not want to fully pass this rise in energy prices on his prices: “We try not to pass it on to customers but it is quite complicated. We are thinking of opening every day to do more specific billing”. It’s the only solution we have because we don’t want to raise prices too much.” In one year, the price of poultry has increased by 20%, that of beef by 14% and that of veal and lamb by slightly less than 7%.
To make matters worse, the 80,000 professional artisans in the sector are facing a structural drop in annual meat consumption by the French: from 94 kilos per person in 1998, it is now 85 kilos. Without specific action by the state, the 18,000 French butcher shops could see their numbers reduced in the coming months. A movement that has already begun according to Jean-François Guilhard:
Source: BFM TV
