Rennes (AFP)
Langoustines sold at 6.80 euros per kg against 12 to 13 last week, sole at 8 euros against 17, turbot at 12 against 35: lack of buyers, the price of seafood collapses in the auctions.
"This morning, everything was sold at the withdrawal price (the guaranteed floor price, note) and there were a lot of unsold fish, a lot of monkfish in particular", explains David Derrien, assistant manager of the Guilvinec auction (Finistère ).
"The fishmongers are present, but they do not know if they will be able to sell because of the crisis. Therefore, they do not buy or little. Spain and Italy are closed to the sale. The large distribution groups who usually buy from us, they buy almost nothing anymore, "he says to explain these low prices.
"Not all noble species are sold (turbot, catfish, Saint-Pierre, etc.) because they are fish often served in restaurants. And as restaurants are closed ...", continues Mr. Derrien.
The situation is such that producer organizations (POs) announce that they will no longer be able to support prices by ensuring a minimum withdrawal price. On Tuesday, one of the main POs, Les Pêcheurs de Bretagne, announced that it was throwing in the towel this weekend.
- "It's a misery" -
"As a result, the boats will no longer go to sea if there are no more withdrawal prices (...) We do not know where we are going. The last boats return this weekend," said M. Derrien.
On the north coast, at the Saint-Quay-Portrieux auction (Côtes-d'Armor), the signals are also red. "Today, the price of fish is a misery, there is no sale (...) Tuesday, 25% of the proposed fish remained unsold", notes Alain Coudray, president of the fisheries committee Côtes-d'Armor. "We will still have a sale until Thursday, but after?", He wonders.
In the middle of the scallop campaign in the bay of Saint-Brieuc, a strictly supervised fishery which takes place over a few months, from autumn to early spring, and allows fishermen to improve the rest of the ordinary. nothing is going well anymore.
"On Monday, we had 74 boats at sea. On arrival at the auction, there was no purchase. Fishmongers had warned that they would not be there because they have no more requests with the restaurants and canteens closed. Everything went to the factory for freezing. But the factory will also close, "laments Alain Coudray. "We are in a very difficult moment. Unfortunately, this is only the beginning."
"There will remain small boats, as long as there is a local market (...) The State will certainly have to help a lot of businesses, both in fishing and on land," he said.
Olivier Le Nézet, the president of the regional fisheries committee of Brittany, a region which provides half of the French catches, is also very worried: "We must continue to produce, even with less volume, that the fishmongers recover, that supermarkets and hypermarkets play the game and that consumers buy fish (...) we are on the picking; without continuity of the chain, everything will stop ", he fears, in the "The Minister" gives orders to his officials. We tell them everything that should be done, but they don't do it. "
© 2020 AFP