Quick Take — France: drought causes a ‘plunge’ in crop production: ‘even with irrigation, the young plants did not survive’

Cauliflower, peas and salad crops are suffering from a lack of water and successive heatwaves. The sector is describing the situation as a ‘disaster’, particularly across the whole of western France, whilst the ability to sow crops for subsequent seasons is also being hampered.

Vegetables are not the only crops affected: the maize harvest is also expected to fall sharply (by 30 per cent), whilst poultry farms were hit hard by high mortality rates during the heatwave at the end of June…  milk production, one of the sectors hardest hit by climate change this year, according to the Minister for Agriculture…

Below: a scorched maize cob in Albiate

Quick Take — Italy: between 2011 and 2024, whilst the number of businesses run by Italian nationals fell by 7.9 per cent, those run by foreign nationals grew by 46.9 per cent

rising from 454,029 to 666,767 people…

Retail remains one of the leading sectors, albeit with a gradual easing of the more rigid ethnic specialisations — the historical channelling of Moroccans, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis into retail, or that of Chinese people into retail, manufacturing and catering — alongside a growing expansion into more specialised services.

Lombardy offers a consistent detailed picture: businesses run by immigrants in the region number over 130,000, having grown by 8.9 per cent between 2021 and 2025, and after Italy, the main countries of birth of Lombardy’s entrepreneurs are Egypt, China, Romania, Albania and Morocco — a geographical distribution which, in urban retail, is directly reflected in the mix of neighbourhood shops changing hands.

“We must view this reality for what it is: not a temporary phenomenon, but a structural component of the Lombardy economy”, notes Eugenio Massetti, president of Confartigianato Lombardia, in an interview with *Corriere della Sera* — an assessment based on the craft sector observatory but which applies just as strongly to local retail, the other sector where foreign entrepreneurial initiative has progressed more rapidly than average…

Below: fruit at a market in Europe. It is worth noting that turnover in the local retail sector in France has almost doubled over the past 10 years.

Quick Take — Grand Frais reaches 350 shops and consolidates its leadership in the specialist fresh food sector

…With 350 outlets, Grand Frais maintains a clear lead over other French retailers specialising in fresh produce. In second place is Mangeons Frais, a brand belonging to the Blachère group, with 156 shops – less than half the size of Grand Frais’s network. Next comes Fresh, a brand belonging to the Prosol group dedicated to fresh produce, which has 77 outlets across France.

This gap in numbers highlights the dominant position Grand Frais has established in a segment that continues to attract consumers seeking product ranges focused on fruit and vegetables, meat, fish, dairy products and speciality foods…

Below: one of Grand Frais’s rivals – Carrefour’s Match supermarkets, with a photo by Olivier Dauvers showing the fruit and vegetable and meat departments.

Quick Take — Pewex: launches ‘Radici nel Lazio’ in the fruit and vegetable sector

“Radici nel Lazio” is the name of the new project resulting from the agreement with the CAR in Rome. What are the most important aspects of this initiative?

Our agreement with the CAR (Rome Agri-Food Centre) is not simply a procurement initiative. Through this project, we are seeking to adopt a model based on an extremely short supply chain, drastically reducing the time between harvest and display. Suffice it to say that in some cases we manage to get produce onto the shelves on the very morning it is harvested (*)

The benefit for the consumer is immediate: a visibly fresher product that retains its organoleptic properties, flavour and aroma intact. Better-tasting produce that lasts much longer, with the added benefit of reducing household waste. The produce from“Radici nel Lazio” travels a very short distance. No long journeys, no prolonged stays in cold storage: the fruit and vegetables are harvested in the fields of Lazio, transported by lorry and delivered directly to our shops. The agreement currently involves around fifteen producers, but we intend – not least in light of the results – to expand it in the coming months.

Finally, as our company is deeply rooted in this region, “Radici nel Lazio” embodies the aim of bringing the agricultural and food wealth of these areas to our shelves, whilst promoting the work of local producers. For Pewex, local sourcing is indeed a commercial decision, but it is also an ethical one and a choice made by those who produce and provide employment in our region…(says David Cetorelli, commercial director).

(*) Esselunga, for example, would receive its deliveries the following day (the lorries travelled overnight and the goods were received at dawn the next day, before being distributed across the network).

Below: courgettes, a private-label salad – Consilia – by Pewex on sale in Prati (Rome), and the report by Daniele Tirelli (Cx Store Research) showing that the chain ranks second in fruit and vegetable sales in Lazio, behind Lidl.

Overall, the chain ranks first in the region.

Quick Take — Carrefour opens its first Match Frais: the target is 160 outlets by 2030

Source:

Carrefour, which currently operates Carrefour hypermarkets, Carrefour Market, Carrefour City, Carrefour Express, Carrefour Contact, Carrefour Montagne, Promocash, Supeco, Atacadao and Carrefour City Potager. With this existing brand, as Olivier Dauvers explains on LinkedIn, it certainly aims to compete with Grand Frais.

French supermarkets face the same challengesin the fruit and vegetable sector as their Italian counterparts.

However, given that the name ‘Carrefour’ appears to have disappeared from the signage once again, it is unclear what synergies – in terms of marketing, purchasing and sales – might exist with the group’s head office regarding fresh produce, particularly as the head office will still supply part of the product range (e.g. ready meals). Perhaps only with major brands, such as Coca-Cola or Ferrero’s Nutella, which Match – unlike Grand Frais – will offer its customers.

Faced with this umpteenth attempt by the French group, scepticism remains amongst those who have worked there: they saw Carrefour as a model but have also witnessed – over the years – how it has squandered energy and money on a series of fruitless ‘experiments’. 

Drafted on 7 July, updated on 10 July 2026