Le secteur laitier français est-il compétitif face à la concurrence européenne et mondiale ?

With the end of milk quotas, the increasing openness of economies and the increased volatility of international prices, the question of the competitiveness of the French dairy sector is at the heart of many debates. Competitiveness is generally defined as the ability of a company or a country to conquer and / or maintain market share by facing up to competition from both domestic and export markets. The French dairy sector is not only an important player in European and international trade in dairy products, but it has some good opportunities in the domestic market, including for high-value products. The decline in domestic consumption (in milk equivalent), the gradual saturation of European demand, and competition from several other European countries are now an incentive to develop our exports to more distant markets where a growth in demand is manifesting itself. Compared to other competing countries, European or international (New Zealand, the United States), the cost of producing milk in France, especially in the West (the main French dairy region), is favorable thanks to low inputs, particularly because of abundant forage production (autonomy for feeding dairy cows). The way of achieving such a high level of autonomy today, however, has a negative impact on the average level of labor productivity and on the structure of expenses (high cost of mechanization) due to the importance of forages now mostly grown, harvested, and distributed mechanically.