Carrefour took very little time to apologize after warning last week of the risk of overflow in the French market “of a meat production that does not meet its requirements and standards“said the company’s executive director, Alexandre Bompard, in a letter in which he also assured that they would not sell imported meat from any Mercosur country.
With this letter, which he also shared on his social networks, the manager intended to side with the farmers in a country that mostly sympathizes with the ‘anti-Mercosur’ cause. However, in doing so he did not measure his words well or calculate the potential damage in Brazil, a country in which Carrefour is a sales leader.
It didn’t take long for the situation to escalate. The governor of the agricultural state of Mato Grosso called for a nationwide boycott of Carrefour stores and the press did the rest. On Friday of last week the Brazilian company JBS, which is the first meat company in the world, suspended shipments to the French company and shortly after the agri-food companies Marfrig and Masterboi did the same.
Yesterday, when the shortage in some stores was already very real – according to EFE – and with the Brazilian Minister of Agriculture assuring the GloboNews channel that he was “happy with the attitude” of the suppliers, Bompard finally had to retrace his steps to avoid further damage.
Brazil issues a warning to sailors
“If the communication from Carrefour France generated confusion and could be interpreted as a questioning of our association with Brazilian agriculture and a criticism of it, we apologize,” Bompard wrote in a letter to Brazilian Agriculture Minister Carlos Favaro, obtained by AFP.
In the letter, the manager praises Brazilian meat, which he describes as “high quality and tasty” and that “respects the standards.” It is not clear whether they will maintain the boycott or not, but the truth is that the controversy focused on Bompard questioning the quality of Brazilian production, rather than the fact that he announced a boycott in France, a country in which meat imports from Brazil are residual.
After apologizing, the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Agriculture of Brazil have published a conciliatory note, but which includes a warning to sailors: “The Brazilian government hopes that the companies that announced boycotts of Brazilian products will reverse those unfounded decisions and that all actors “Those who have contributed to this disinformation campaign keep in mind the negative consequences of their actions and consider the serious impact they may have on their relations with Brazil.” For its part, andThe Government promised to once again “react firmly against any new campaign that aims at the image of Brazilian products.”
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