Fine French Foods Delight the World’s Taste Buds
The fine-food sector is booming. Over the next few years, the market is expected to expand by 6% in North America, China and India. “Jambon de Bayonne” ham, produced in southwestern France, is already selling around the world. Another icon French food, foie gras, is carving out a place for itself on Chinese dinner tables. In 2020, Beijing began granting French companies licenses to export their foie gras to China. The potential market – well-to-do Chinese people – is huge: 60 million! When it comes to sweet treats like chocolate, jams and preserves, and macarons – filled almond-flour meringue cookies, consumers are becoming more and more attached to products from identified regions.
So, France’s fine-food sector is changing its production methods.
Organic production has increased fourfold in three years, eco-responsible labels are proliferating, and the “zero waste” movement is boosting bulk sales.
In order to foster consumer confidence, the sector has been investing in improving traceability. In the future, flashing the QR code on the label of a jar of honey or a terrine will let you know all about where it comes from, including the various stages it went through from farming to processing to point of sale. Technology serving transparency!
And finally, everyone involved in fine foods is going to have to adapt to their clientele’s rising expectations. The sector will be more and more vent-driven, with limited editions and seasonal recipes. After all, standing out from the pack has always been one of the defining characteristics of French luxury!
Key figures of fine-food sector in France
France is the world leader in foie gras.
France is the third largest producer of caviar in the world.
France is the leading producer of sugar in Europe.
Revenue of Fine-food sector in France is 23.3 billion euros, 25% of which is from export.
Principal trade partners : United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany and Spain.
The chocolate industry generates a revenue of 3.035 billion euros.
The main luxury foods by region in France:
Aquitaine: Caviar
Perigord: Truffles
Montelimar: Nougat
Southwest: Foie gras
Frontignan: Muscat grapes
Oil Olive production is 5,860 tons, including 3,633 tons from the South Provence-Alps-Côte d’Azur region.
Oil Olive has 8 AOC geographic certification labels.
Sugar production is 5.29 million tons, including 182,000 tons of cane sugar in France’s Overseas Departments.
