The French in a moment of deprivation. With inflation, consumers are tightening their belts more than ever and INSEE has described the drop in food consumption in 2022 as historic.
The statistics institute measured a 4.6% decrease in food spending in 2022. A decrease that INSEE had never observed in the last 60 years, since it maintains its statistical series.
A drop, of course, had been measured in 2021, but it was only 0.8% and was notably linked to the reopening of restaurants after the lockdowns.
Last year, however, spending on food products fell in both volume and value for four consecutive quarters. It even accelerated in the last quarter (-2.8%) despite the end-of-year celebrations.
Back to 2010 level
This fall was even greater if we eliminate the effects of inflation on the value of the products purchased. As evidenced by this very explicit curve produced by the economist Nicolas Goetzmann.
He took the food consumption expenditure of the French at the prices of the previous year. So we see a fall not of 4.6% but of 9.1% in 2022. This brings France back to the 2010 level in terms of spending on food. However, 12 years earlier, the country had 3 million fewer inhabitants than today and a lower GDP per capita than today.
The shock of inflation on consumption was therefore exceptional last year. And at the moment, 2023 still shows no signs of decline. According to Iri, after increases of 12% in November and 12.6% in December, prices continued to skyrocket in January in supermarkets with an increase of 13.73% in one year, surpassing their previous records by more than one point.
Lidl and System U do not wait for the government
A few weeks before the end of the trade negotiations between manufacturers and distributors, which should give rise to new increases, it is therefore urgent to try to limit the rise in food prices.
Hence the government’s insistence on launching its anti-inflation baskets. Some brands have also taken the lead in announcing their offers, somewhat in a scattered order. The Système U group offers 150 products at cost price under its private label. There you can find flour, pasta, oil, coffee, milk or yogurt. For its part, Lidl secured its basket for March 1 on BFMTV this Wednesday. It will be made up of 50 products, more than the twenty recommended by Minister Olivia Gregoire.
Initiatives to alleviate the portfolios of the French but that are probably not enough to revive food growth.
Source: BFM TV
