French producers have reacted with outrage at retailer Auchan's pricing of a 500g pack of imported strawberries at just €0.79, threatening action if it doesn't cease the promotion, Figaro reported.
Jacques Rouchaussé, president of professional vegetable association, Producteurs de Légumes de France, commented: 'We feel this is about selling at a loss, pure and simple. The Spanish sell their produce for much more over in Spain. The producer's average selling price is around €1.80-€1.90 per kilo, and the price offered to the Spanish consumer is around €3.70 per kilo. Meanwhile, a 500g pack of Spanish strawberries is offered for import into France at around €2.'
Actions could include raids into stores to make consumers aware of the situation and to 'stop this stupidity', warned Rouchaussé.
'Massacring the price like this at the beginning of the season is an absurd and idiotic policy and is not how to boost consumption of fruit and vegetables in France,' he said.
Auchan responded through purchasing manager Olivier Pageau that the retailer was merely responding to consumer demand with such promotions, creating dynamism in the fresh sector with the variety of its offer and the development of various promotions.
Rouchaussé warned that such a practice risked forcing the strawberry category to begin the 2014 campaign with 'destructive crisis prices'.
French consumers eat around 125,000 tonnes of strawberries each year, of which 60,000-70,000 tonnes come from Spain, while 45,000 tonnes are grown in France.
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