Chain apologized after criticism and announcement of boycott of Brazilian meat. However, the apology does not clarify whether the group will purchase Mercosur products again.
The global CEO of CarrefourAlexandre Bompard, formally apologized to the Brazilian government six days after announcing that the group’s French headquarters would boycott meat from Mercosur and stated that Brazilian meat is “high quality”. But there is already talk of a Brazilian boycott of supermarkets.
“If Carrefour França’s communication generated confusion and could have been interpreted as a doubt about our partnership with Brazilian agriculture or as criticism directed at it, we apologize“, he wrote in a letter sent to the Minister of Agriculture, Carlos Fávaro.
“In solidarity with the agricultural world, the Carrefour undertakes not to sell any meat from Mercosur“, said the CEO, quoted by .
In the most recent statement, the executive also stated that the Brazilian operation of the retail chain will continue to buy meat from Brazilian farmers, but reiterated that, in France, the French product will continue to have priority — without clarifying, therefore, whether it will buy again from the Mercosur.
“We buy almost all the meat we need for our operations in France, and we will continue to do so. Carrefour France’s decision was not intended to change the rules of a broadly structured market in its local supply chains, which follow the regional preferences of our customers,” he wrote.
“High quality meat”
The apology also defends the retail chain’s partnership with Brazil. “Brazil is the country in which Carrefour has invested the most during my presidency, which confirms our ambition and our commitment to the country”, he stated, reiterating that Brazilian agriculture “provides high quality meat, respects standards and has flavor“.
The citation regarding the sanitary quality of bovine protein produced in the country was a requirement of the ministry, which also wanted the request to be made by Bompard himself, and not by a Brazilian representative.
Carrefour presses against Mercosur-EU agreement
On November 21, the executive had informed that Carrefour’s French headquarters would no longer buy meat from Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), as a strategy to pressure the European Union not to formalize a free trade agreement. with the South American bloc. The CEO justified that the boycott would be a way of supporting French farmers who, according to him, face a “serious crisis”.
At the time of the decision, French producers were entering the third day of massive protests against the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union. The European sector’s fear is that South American meat will enter Europe without having to comply with the same environmental and social standards required of French suppliers, which would make the product cheaper.
Echoing these requests, Bompard went so far as to suggest that Mercosur animal protein does not meet the requirements and standards of the French market. It was this point that generated the biggest reaction from the Brazilian government.
Negotiations between the blocs to formalize the agreement never progressed, despite the original text being signed by the parties in 2019, two decades after discussions began. The issue gained strength again in 2023, when the Europeans presented an additional protocol to adapt the text to the European Union’s new environmental requirements, which reopened negotiations on the South American side for more incentives for national industries.
