France

2023 was a tough year from beer with sales declining across all categories in total volume terms. Although sales continued to report healthy growth in total current value terms this was due to the impact of high inflation and rising production costs…

Sales of bleach declined in retail volume terms in 2023 with value growth largely due to price rises rather than an increase in demand. Nonetheless, while volume sales continued to decline in 2023 this was at a slower pace than expected, as rising…

Booking sales have seen a strong recovery over 2022-2023. Industry players have benefited from the rearrangement of postponed travel bookings, with many consumers having postponed travelling abroad during the pandemic. After two years of restrictions…

In 2023, bottled water displayed lower total volume growth than in the previous year, and what was initially expected. On-trade sales still progressed (thanks to a rather good season in the southern part of the country, though much less so in the…

Sales of breakfast cereals have remained relatively steady over the last couple of years of the review period in retail volume terms. Breakfast cereals has, however, seen stronger growth in current value terms in 2023 with prices continuing to rise…

Butter benefited from the first year of home seclusion during the pandemic, with retail sales climbing as consumers cooked and baked more frequently at home. While retail volume sales continue to decline in 2023 following a notable drop the previous…

Cafés/bars continued to show significant improvement in terms of the value and volume sales, with even the number of outlets increasing. Nonetheless, sales results could have been even better without the strikes and the impact of elevated inflation,…

The approval of medical cannabis has been postponed again to 2024 according to official sources. However, it is estimated that its full implementation will be further delayed. France began its medical trial in 2021. It was set to be a 2-year pilot…

Carbonates was amongst the most dynamic soft drinks categories in 2023. It is set to face another year with solid value growth, even after the offsetting post-pandemic effect of 2022. Total volume sales already surpassed the level of 2019 in 2022,…

There are far more cats than dogs in France and while the cat population decreased in 2023 it is expected to stabilise in 2024 and could even increase slightly. Local associations reported a drop in pet adoptions in 2023 whilst abandonments remained…

Charge cards in 2023 is benefitting from the revival of meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) and business tourism, which experienced a significant slump during the era of the pandemic, and which has taken some time to bounce back…

Cheese in France has experienced mixed fortunes in 2022 and 2023 following an upturn in demand during pandemic-related home seclusion in 2020. Price rises across the board are resulting in retail volume declines for many types. The notable exceptions…

One would think that childrenswear would be resilient, due to the necessity of replacement needed for growing infants and children. However, both value and volume sales are in a slump in 2023. One key reason for this is the declining birth rate in…

Sales of chocolate confectionery struggled in 2023, as the cost of key ingredients including sugar and cocoa hit the manufacturers hard, with players forced to pass on the increase in production costs to the consumer. Indulgence has long maintained…

Although sales of cider/perry declined in total volume terms in 2023 the category actually reported a more stable performance than earlier in the review period. The main contributors to this slight improvement were the recovery of on-trade sales as…

Cigarettes saw volume sales decline in France in 2023. Legal sales of cigarettes were forced to take another backseat in 2023. Having seen no tax increase in 2022 (the immediate post-pandemic period), taxes rose again in 2023, which resulted in a…

Cigars, cigarillos and smoking tobacco saw volumes continue to fall in France in 2023. By comparison with other categories, fine cut tobacco was spared during the COVID-19 years due to the fact that it was subject to lower taxation than cigarettes.…

Coffee was the main growth driver in hot drinks, in actual value terms at least, in 2023 as its value growth was strongly supported by the dramatic rate of inflation. Despite the recovery of tourism, on-trade sales were not so dynamic due to the…

Colour cosmetics in France saw low current value growth in 2023, thanks to price growth, while all the main categories except lip products declined in volume terms. In 2023, value sales still stood at around 80% of the level seen in 2019, which means…

Volume declines continue in computers and peripherals in 2023, after the boost seen during the pandemic era due to home lockdowns and working-from-home trends. Indeed, there was a dramatic rise in the number of people working from home and using…