Calf prices fall sharply

In seven months, prices for calves have dropped by 27 percent, representing an average loss of 500 euros per animal. This decline has surprised industry experts who say there is no clear reason for such a sharp drop in prices.

Market logic defies expectations

The cattle market is one of the few not subject to the law of supply and demand, which states that when a product becomes rarer, its price increases. Although this logic was respected in 2025, driven by the depopulation of the dairy herd, it suddenly stopped, without any of the fundamentals explaining it.

Price drops affect farmers heavily

At its peak, the Salers (R, 300-350 kg) reached 4.97 euros per kilogram at the end of March, compared to 3.60 euros today, while the crosses reached 6.36 euros, before falling to 4.57 euros in mid-October. This has led to an average loss of 500 euros per calf and a loss of 33,000 euros for a farm with 60 cows.

Industry officials challenge common justifications

His officials have unraveled the arguments repeatedly stated in farm markets and by buyers and traders to justify this downward spiral. Consumption, supposed to be hampered by a declining purchasing power and a scorching summer, only declined by 1.8 percent in France and around 2 percent in Europe in the first half of the year.

Export figures contradict claims of slowdown

Exports would be slowing down, Italian fattening operators restricting placements due to lack of corn: false, very false, asserts Patrick Bénézit, president of the FNB (National Bovine Federation). From September 1 to mid-October, live cattle exports are 10 percent higher than those of the same period in 2025 to Italy and Spain.

Export numbers show strong growth

The numbers of animals exported to the other side of the Pyrenees are up by an average of 22 percent each week since September (+33 percent last week). As for the supply, calf availability is significantly lower: between 70,000 and 100,000 heads are missing since January 2026.

Industry leaders question market behavior

Conclusion drawn by Jérôme Pitot, president of the cattle section: "Consumption is far from catastrophic, we have not imported masses of meat and we have produced less..." Of which, in theory, ensures solid prices. The hope of a rebound appeared last week with a slight fluctuation in quotations, on which the markets at the beginning of the week did not rebound.

Costs and pricing remain under pressure

These costs should definitely increase. "The sector has done everything it shouldn't have done!" points out Patrick Bénézit. That is, a first "attack" by slaughterhouses on the price of the baby (JB) in April, which in fact translated into downward pressure on the calf. A calf targeted twice again: in July and in early September.

Fattening sector faces challenges

Fattening: who still talks about sovereignty? If the breeders are the victims, it is the French fattening sector that is also severely affected. "Half of the calves remain in France to be fattened," recalls the president of the FNB, predicting that the Bigard group - whose sites were blocked in July - will pay the bill in the short term.

Sovereignty promises remain unfulfilled

Even though in February last year, all the links signed at the Agricultural Fair a sovereignty plan, a commitment, with hearts in hands, that "we would no longer lose any cows, that we would fatten in France." And the unionist adds: "We have already lost 1.3 million cows in ten years, the signal given today by the operators is that we could very well lose the same number again!"