Caractéristiques et tendances de l'industrie agroalimentaire française

The modernization of French agri-business firms remains one of the main preoccupations for the authorities and is reaffirmed by the 7th Plan. Agribusiness is often accused of being archaic and presents one specific characteristic - that of heterogeneousness and dispersion - but this does not rule out comparisons with other industrial activities. From this critical examination the economic results of agri-business appear on the whole to be quite good, often better than the average, in spite of the fact that the rate of progress is slow and this may in the long run Jeopardize the present situation. The rapid concentration of firms noted during the past few years which has enabled a few big groups to emerge and be consolidated, does not seem to lead to the results that were expected ; the assets of foreign trade in the agri-business sector are due to farming alone whereas middle-sized firms seem to have an important part to play both on the home market and on the export market. Finally it is to be noted that agri-business by its characteristics is clearly distinguished from consumer goods industries and has a number of similarities with production goods industries.