Carrefour hit by Brazilian boycott

(Update) Carrefour‘s decision not to sell meat from Mercosur countries in France is having some adverse effects, Brazilian meat producers have stopped supplying the retailer’s shops in Brazil in return.

U-turn upcoming?

Carrefour CEO Alexandre Bompard sought to reassure angry French farmers with his announcement: they are protesting against the controversial trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur countries because they fear increasing competition from cheap agricultural products from South America, such as beef, sugar and soya. Those products, they say, have to meet less stringent quality standards than European ones.

However, the announcement poked up anger in Brazil. Major slaughterhouses have already stopped supplying the retailer, Reuters reports. They have the support of Brazilian agriculture minister Carlos Favaro: he added that if Carrefour does not want to buy Brazilian meat for its French customers, it should stop doing so for its Brazilian shops.

Brazil is the largest foreign market for Carrefour, with about a thousand shops accounting for a fifth of total group sales. The controversy could therefore cost the retailer a lot of money. It is therefore not surprising that the CEO plans to apologise for his “unfortunate statements”, BNN Bloomberg reports. Another French retailer, Intermarché, has also reported that it will not sell meat from Mercosur countries in France, but that retailer has no shops in South America anyway.

Update: In a communiqué, Carrefour has indeed apologized on Tuesday. ‘We regret that our communication has been perceived as questioning and criticising our partnership with Brazilian agriculture. Better than anyone else, we know the standards Brazilian meat meets, its high quality and its taste.’ Carrefour will continue to source the quasi-totality of its meat locally in both France and Brazil, the retailer specifies.