- Ecommerce sales boomed last year as keen as mustard French consumers struggled to source favourite condiment
- Drought in Canada and mild winter in France meant mustard seed harvests were ravaged in 2022 but supply chains back in action for 2023
LONDON, UK – Online sales of mustard in France have dropped by 80% as the supply chain for harvests of mustard seeds have been replenished this year, according to Euromonitor data.
Last year French consumers, who use mustard to cook or as a dressing in almost every dish, were rationed to just one jar in supermarkets before they ran out completely and turned to online suppliers to source their favourite condiment.
Canada, a country that supplies 80% of the brown-grain seeds needed for the French production of mustard, suffered a devastating heatwave in 2021. The high temperatures halved production leaving companies scrambling to secure seed supplies. On top of this, a mild winter in France itself meant the country’s own harvests were also limited.
Since then, French farmers have been incentivised to grow more mustard seeds as well Canadian supply chains returning to normal. French mustard has returned to supermarket shelves and specialist stores in plentiful amounts.
Jared Koerten, Head of Ecommerce at Euromonitor International, said: “We saw a massive spike in online mustard sales in Q2 and Q3 last year that has dropped off across every retailer. Overall online mustard sales in France have dropped 80% in Q2 this year compared with the previous year showing the true scale of last year’s mustard crisis in the country.
“We map real Stock Keeping Units (SKU) purchase data from clickstream panels, e-receipts and online retailers to a globally standardised taxonomy using our expertise in machine learning and data science, helping companies take the guesswork out of tracking online sales performance. The mustard situation is just one example of this.”
For more information see Euromonitor ecommerce insights here.
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