after sunflower oil, this food also affected by the shortage

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After the oil, the number of bottles of which was limited at the checkout, it’s the turn of the mustard! Indeed, you have probably noticed that this product is disappearing more and more from the supermarket shelves. The reason is because of a fairly severe drought in Canadian territory, which is the leading exporter of mustard seeds. Indeed, since the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, mustard production in France has come to a halt. Thus, the price of this condiment skyrocketed in April.

Supermarket: mustard is no longer likely to get in the nose of the French!

Will mustard become the new yellow gold? For a few weeks at the supermarket, sunflower oil was scarce. Now it’s the mustard’s turn. What will be the next product? The French are not reassured for the future, that’s for sure. In addition, this condiment is very popular with the French. Obviously, they are going to have to change their eating habits…” I estimate that the drop in supply over the last months of February and March has been around at least 25 to 30% and this will increase “, explained last April Michel Liardet, the president of L’Européenne de condiments for our colleagues in The Journal of Saône et Loire.

But, then, what is the origin of this shortage of mustard? This is due to a drought that broke records during the summer period of 2021 in Canada. For information, this large territory exports 80% of its mustard seeds to France. According to the Canadian Ministry of Agriculture, production has fallen by 28% for the period 2021-2022. A substantial drop. In addition to this climate problem, the war in Ukraine does nothing to help matters. Indeed, Ukrainians and Russians also export the precious mustard seeds. But, given that the French government is trying to impose economic sanctions on Russia, this complicates things even further.

A crisis in the production of mustard seeds in France

But that’s not all ! French production, which was halted and relaunched in France in the 1990s, also has a major problem. Certain insects destroy mustard seed crops. ” From 12,000 tons in 2016 we have gone to 4,000 tons in 2021. It’s simple, we can no longer manage pests “, Informed Fabrice Genin, the president of the Association of producers of mustard seeds of Burgundy (APGMB), to the journalists of the magazine Release end of 2021. So, inevitably, with all its cumulative problems, customers are not likely to find jars of mustard in the supermarket.

A 9% increase in supermarket prices

In addition to encountering problems with seed supply and insects, packaging also poses problems. Indeed, the glass and the metal used to manufacture the packaging have undergone a large increase in their price. The increase in material has a consequence for customers. The price of a pot of mustard exploded by 9% last April, according to a study Iris for the specialist magazine LSA. Thus, the condiment joins the list, already sufficiently important, of the five products in the food sector which are the most inflationary for the French. Namely, pasta which saw prices increase by 15%, frozen meats had an increase of 11%, flours increased by 10%, and finally oils around 10%. How far will the price increase continue?


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