French animal sectors facing the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

This article offers an analysis of the economic situation of several animal sectors (cow's milk, beef, pork, poultry meat and the equine sector) in France, two years after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Starting from the latest statistical data available for the period 2020 to 2021 and while taking into account historical trajectories, it seeks to highlight how this crisis has had implications for production, prices, consumption, foreign trade and, in the case of the equine sector, the various activities (horse betting, equestrian centres, etc.). The production of agricultural goods was generally little impacted by the health crisis because farmers continued to produce, sometimes despite certain difficulties, such as the lack of labor, temporary loss of outlets, etc. Faced with a significant change in the structure of demand (increase in products purchased by households to the detriment of those favored in out-of-home catering), the sudden measures imposed by the State and the difficulties sometimes encountered in maintaining the number of employees, processors have been able to adapt quickly to provide consumers with the goods demanded. Trade flows were also disrupted in 2020, before picking up again in 2021, according to trends that were ultimately fairly consistent with those preceding the crisis. Under the influence, on the one hand, of the increase in the price of energy (even before the war in Ukraine which began on February 24, 2022) and, on the other hand, fluctuating imports from China into global animal product markets, producer prices increased in late 2021 and early 2022, but this increase is offset by a sharp increase in production costs. In the equine sector, turnover losses were temporarily significant due to the interaction of this sector with the public. After the shock of 2020, and subject to adaptation by the players in the sector, activities are gradually resuming.