This is the first time that the organic milk market has stalled.

Boosted by growing demand from the French population, production has grown steadily in recent years, encouraged by more generous purchase prices for producers.

The enchanted parenthesis seems to have closed.

The French do not drink enough organic milk, national production is in surplus and forces manufacturers in the sector to lower purchase prices in order to avoid a collapse in prices.

The alert came this summer, when a major player, Sodiaal (brands Candia, Entremont), announced to its producers that it was going to pay significantly less for their milk. Ten percent of organic production will be paid for almost 23% less for a year. Damien Lacombe, his boss "calls on all players in the organic sector to control their conversion volumes" from farms to this mode of production, "so that the supply stabilizes".

The objective of professionals in the sector was to double production in organic farming in five years.

A plateau reached before the hour which may have unbalanced the market.

In 2020, one billion liters came out of organic farms, representing 5% of the national collection.

On the shelves, the product is increasingly competing with products with less demanding specifications, less expensive, displaying "ethical, local, with grazing ...", underlines Benoît Rouyer, economist at Cniel.

At Lactalis, 20% of organic milk is "downgraded"

Within Lactalis, the collection of organic milk increased by 12% over one year, but at the same time sales fell by 1.6%. About 20% of organic milk is "downgraded", redirected towards the less remunerative conventional sector, explains the director of communication, Christophe Piednoël. "It is our responsibility", "there is no drop in income for the breeders," he says.

Behind the scenes, competitors are criticized for having "flooded the market", "slashed prices" or not having stopped conversions in time, in the hope of gaining market share.

It is a "collective error", sums up a cooperative manager.

Several players have estimated that the market would be "cleaned up" in the next two or three years.

But will there be room for new producers afterwards?

Breeder in Mayenne, Eric Guihery dispels the idea that a “glass floor” would be reached.

"In Denmark, organic milk represents 20% of the market (in value), against 10% in France," notes this member of the National Federation of Organic Agriculture.

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