Louise Douillet 8:48 a.m., November 30, 2022
On the port of Granville, in Normandy, customers are panicking as the holidays approach.
This year, some will have to skip buying whelks.
The reason ?
Soaring shellfish prices, which have doubled in just one year.
But also the decreases in quantity potentially due to global warming.
We eat it first for the mayonnaise.
In any case, with or without mayonnaise, this mollusk may already have its place in your holiday menu.
Because yes, the whelk is now a luxury product.
In one year, prices have doubled.
At the port of Granville, in Normandy, the labels testify to galloping inflation.
Indeed, 14 euros instead of 7 euros raw, 20 euros instead of 10 euros, the price of the whelk is soaring.
If prices go up, demand goes down.
"We end up with fewer whelks at the auction," says Europe 1 Alexis, fishmonger.
"The demand is still as high, which means that the price increases. Today, we buy it more than twice as much, so we necessarily sell it more expensive. But we sell much less."
Much less, that is to say twice less.
The end of the butter bread whelk
Back from a sea trip of nearly 11 hours, it's Johann's turn to lament his low loot.
"Today, I have 400 kilos", says the fisherman.
"We should rather have between 600 and 800 kilos per day. One of the main factors is the high temperatures we had this summer. Water that remained hot for a very long time and surely consequently whelks that ended by dying at the bottom."
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This fisherman therefore hopes that the coming winter will be cool.
A hope shared by this client who calls herself a "great amateur" of whelks.
"It bothers me, we eat it less often than before, it was a bit like bread butter whelks", she remembers with nostalgia.
To save the sector, fishing quotas will be reduced by 20% from January.