French bakeries are fighting to survive as energy bills soar

Rising energy and ingredient costs are putting pressure on French bakers, with some fearing they will be forced to close. In November, UNESCO named the French baguette as part of “intangible cultural heritage” in recognition of the knowledge, techniques and central role the bread plays in daily life. However, the spiralling cost of butter, flour, milk, cream and eggs, coupled with major inflation in electricity costs, is undermining the future of many bakeries. French industrial producer prices, which suppliers of home-grown goods and services charge businesses, rose 13% YoY in February. PMI surveys compiled by S&P Global reveal manufacturing costs have also gone up for bakeries.

A 500% increase in electricity prices prompted Thierry Maillard to up the price of his baguettes to €1.30 ($1.41), up from €1.10 ($1.19) a year ago. However, bakers know that hiking prices could lead to cuts in their customer base. Élodie Chavret manages L’Épi de Blé and is concerned that her customers will opt for larger stores that can charge lower prices. “French people are not ready to pay €3 a baguette,” she says. The rising costs of gas and electricity that have hit all sectors of industry have been triggered in France by increased demand from colder European countries and the temporary closure, from 2022, of almost half the country’s nuclear power plants for maintenance work, which currently provide up to 70% of electricity supply. 

Although the government has introduced measures, including a subsidy of up to 20% of annual electricity costs or a limit of a 15% increase in annual electricity bills for bakeries employing fewer than ten people, higher levels of support are needed, some bakers say. Frédéric Roy founded a Facebook campaign group for bakers in response to the “very, very critical situation” and is calling for extended “tariff shields” to cover bakeries that employ larger numbers of staff, and a wider range of subsidies, to prevent the “death of villages” caused by the closure of local bakers.



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