Point of view: Two leading slaughtering and cutting companies have announced their intention to leave the MPB

Since the summer, the Marché du Porc Breton has been the focus of heated debate. In August, the Bigard group announced its decision to gradually withdraw from the market, from which it had been supplying through its Abera abattoir. In early October, the Cooperl group announced its withdrawal from the market to its members. While the reasons for these two groups’ departures are different, the stakes for the French industry are very much the same.

The exit of these two leading French slaughterers would undermine one of the major roles of the Marché au Cadran. In fact, the MPB provides a price reference for farm-gate pork, set collectively and transparently. This quotation, drawn up by players in the production and slaughtering sectors, is widely followed in all other marketing channels in France.

Some critics, who predate the departure of the two behemoths, point to the incomplete representativeness of the players participating in the market. Another point of contention is that the volumes traded on the auction floor account for only a minority of the Breton and French market (6% in 2022).

Thus, the exit of these two players disrupts the setting of the national price reference, more in terms of representativeness than in terms of volumes traded. Only three buyers would meet weekly at the MPB to take part in defining the quotation.

Breakdown of MPB purchases in 2022 and pork production in the Uniporc zone in 2022 (in %)

Sources : MPB, Uniporc