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Summary of our market study
France is the leading consumer of snails in Europe, with some 15,000 to 20,000 tons per year
The global snail market is estimated at $180 million, and is growing by 2% a year.
France has a long tradition of tasting edible snails, which are an integral part of the country's gastronomic culture. Edible snails, notably the Helix aspersa and Helix pomatia species, are bred for human consumption through the practice of heliciculture.
Among these species, Helix aspersa is subdivided into Petit-gris and Gros-gris, the latter being the preferred variety of many heliciculturists due to its faster reproduction rate, which makes it more commercially viable.
The end-of-year festive season is a major source of demand.
Most snail farms combine greenhouses or air-conditioned environments with outdoor pens to accelerate the snails' natural growth cycle.
France has around 300 professional producers, who collectively account for only around 5% of national consumption. Most snails are imported, mainly from Romania and the Baltic States.
The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Grand-Est regions lead the way in terms of concentration of snail farmers.
The year 2022 was particularly difficult for the sector due to soaring costs, with snail price increases of up to 40% and the doubling of butter prices, impacting both consumers and producers.
Players in the snail farming market
- Escargot à gogo is a player in the sector.
- Saveurs de Bourgogne is famous for its Burgundy snails
- Pourdebon has carved out a place for itself in the online market, providing a bridge between local producers and consumers.
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Summary and extracts
1 Market overview
1.1 Definition and presentation
Edible snails refer to all snails bred for human consumption. Snail farming is called heliciculture, and mainly involves two snail species:
- Helix aspersa
- Helix pomatia (also known as Burgundy snails)
However, the vast majority of heliciculturists breed only Helix aspersa, as Helix pomatia do not reproduce quickly enough in captivity to make them a sufficiently profitable market. Helix aspersa are themselves divided into two sub-categories:
- Petit-gris
- Gros-gris
France, where snail-eating is an integral part of the country's gastronomic culture, is Europe's leading consumer of snails. Escargot is a time-consuming dish to prepare, requiring a special knowledge of the subject. The most common recipe, found in restaurants, is"à la bourguignonne", in which the snail is presented in its shell with a side dish.
Today, French snail production appears to be in decline, despite the fact that nearly 16,000 tons of snails are consumed in France every year. In fact, only 10% come from domestic production, and the overwhelming majority come from imports, worth almost 48 million dollars. Nevertheless, demand remains extremely strong in the country, particularly during the festive season.
The global market is also growing steadily, and was worth almost $154 million in 2016 , with a projected CAGR of 2% over the period 2016-2025.[Fooddive]
At a time when ecological issues are becoming increasingly decisive factors in consumer choices, snail farming has characteristics that offer it good prospects for the future.the limited space required for a snail farm and, above all, its very low environmental impact compared with the majority of animal product farms, offer snail farming good prospects for the future.
1.2 The global market
The global snail market is constantly evolving. Indeed, it is growing year on year, as consumers in different countries around the world increasingly accept this type of food, thanks in particular to the virtues it can have.
In ****, the global snail market was worth $*** million, according to Foodive. At that time, ...
1.3 The domestic market
France is the world's leading consumer of snails, with **,*** tons of live equivalent per year, and is also the leading processor of this type of product. Snails have even been elevated to the status of "emblematic dish" of French gastronomy. Snails are eaten in all their forms, whether fresh, canned or ...
1.4 Foreign trade
Despite its reputation as a snail country, France imports the vast majority of its domestic consumption. In fact, **% of snails consumed in France are imported. [***]
In order to study the level of French imports and exports, we used customs code ******, which defines trade in "live snails, fresh, chilled, frozenrefrigerated, frozen, salted, ...
2 Demand analysis
2.1 National demand for snails
Snail consumption in France currently stands at around **,*** tonnes, broken down as follows: between ** and **,*** tonnes are imported from Eastern European countries, between *,*** and *,*** tonnes are collected and consumed in France itself, and only *,*** tonnes are cultivated in France. [***]
2.2 Seasonality of demand
There's a certain seasonality to the demand for snails. Indeed, searches for the term "escargot" on Google peak every year at the end of December, during the holiday season.
evolution of interest in the search "escargot" on Google France, ****-****, base *** = **-** /**/**** Source: ****
like searches for the simple term "escargot", searches ...
2.3 Demand from traditional foodservice
The demand for snails in France is also driven by the traditional restaurant trade. Indeed, as this foodstuff is characteristic of French gastronomy, traditional restaurants may be attracted by the idea of offering snail-based dishes on their menus.
Unlike the fast-food sector, the traditional restaurant sector in France has been stagnating ...
3 Market structure
3.1 Production process
Most farmers practice mixed farming, partly in air-conditioned buildings or greenhouses and partly in outdoor parks. This approach speeds up the natural cycle. A year of helicon production comprises * main stages:
Hibernation, reproduction and incubation in buildings with controlled climatic conditions. Growth and fattening in outdoor pens. Between the two, a ...
3.2 Market forces and players
In ****, Christophe Simoncelli carried out a survey for ASPERSA (***) on the different market players and their characteristics. He was able to collect *** returns from snail farmers, *** of which were usable. Nearly ** producers he knew to be still in business declined to reply. However, the number of responses provided a partial but ...
3.3 Satuts and year of implantation
The heliculteurs studied have different statuses:
Primary farmer: This status is awarded when the farmer carries out his activity on an area at least equal to half the minimum installation area. They must also devote at least half their time to this activity, and generate **% of their income from it. Joint ...
3.4 Farm area
Helicole farms vary in size. In terms of the number of farms, the areas between *** and *** m* and those between *** and **** m* are the most numerous, with **% and **% of farms respectively. In terms of surface area, those between *** and **** m* account for most of the total surface area farmed in France. ...
4 Offer analysis
4.1 Offer typology
The table below describes the different types of snails.
Source: ****
4.2 Typical recipes and prices
Snails are rarely eaten on their own, uncooked. There are a multitude of recipes for cooking them. But the most popular is snails in parsley butter. Here's some information on the range of snails on offer when you search for the term "escargot" on various sites.
Recipes marketed by Escargot à ...
4.3 A year 2022 synonymous with problems for the industry
According to a company survey, snail farmers are facing an increase in snail prices of up to +**%, depending on the species, by ****.this is in addition to general price increases, particularly for metal packaging (***). Over the last two years, manufacturers estimate that the price of this essential snail ingredient has more ...
5 Regulations
5.1 Regulations
For the following snail species:
Helix pomatia (***). Helix aspersa (***).
Zonites algirus (***), the collection of live specimens and their sale, whether free of charge or for a fee, may be subject to authorization or prohibited in each département by a permanent or temporary prefectoral decree, which sets, for each named species, ...
5.2 The "label rouge" snail label
Selected snails
Snails prepared by Label Rouge come from selected wild snail species belonging to Helix pomatia (***). Label Rouge snails are identified and tracked from the collection area. This guarantees the traceability of the raw material, i.e. the meat destined for Label Rouge, right from the harvest.
Quality ingredients and ...
6 Positioning the players
6.1 Segmentation
- Bourgogne Escargots
- Croque Bourgogne
- Française de Gastronomie
- ESCAL
- GrandJean Escargots
- Romanzini
- Sabarot-Wassner
List of charts presented in this market study
- Trends in snail market size
- Status of helicolous farms studied
- Year of installation of heliculteurs
- Status of companies created
- Helicole farms by surface area
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Latest news
Sabarot inaugurates its 4.0 plant for pulses and cereals - 31/07/2023
- Groupe Sabarot inaugurated new production facilities on July 12, 2023
- Production: 5000 tonnes per year (frozen pulses)
- The company manages 7800 product references
- Group sales in 2022: €75 million, with 20% from exports
- The company has 160 employees Sales breakdown: 60% in the vegetable sector (lentils and quinoa) and 40% in the festive sector (wild mushrooms and snails).
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The snail and heliciculture market | France
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