A merchant has been ordered to pay a winemaker €350,000 after buying wine from him at an “insultingly low” price.

There is a decision “unpublished”. While the Igalim law is at the center of the agricultural crisis, a justice on Thursday sentenced traders to pay 350,000 euros to a Bordeaux wine producer who accused them of violating the Igalim law on agricultural prices. “extremely low”.

“This is the first time that a court has condemned buyers of agricultural produce for charging outrageously low purchase prices.”, says the applicant’s lawyer Me Louis Lecamp. In the Medoc, operator Rémy Lacombe sold around 8,500 hectoliters to Cordier and Maison Genestat in 2021 and 2022, at 1,150 or 1,200 euros per barrel (900 litres), depending on the vintage. Or around one euro per bottle, which the producer reckons is much lower than its production costs, which it says are between 1500 and 2000 euros per barrel.

The Bordeaux Commercial Court, where the case was heard on January 11, found in its decision that the two traders did not allow Remy Lacombe to make price proposals on the contract. “which was to form the basis of pre-contract negotiations”.

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Farmers fear possible retaliation

The wine producer sought between 715,000 and 512,000 euros from the defendants. “repair the damage that has been done”, based on article L442-7 of the Commercial Code as amended by the Egalim Law. Adopted in late 2018, it must provide farmers with an income that allows them to live off their work. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced his intention to introduce new legislation by the summer “Strengthen Aglim System”.

After various calculations and estimating that the fair purchase price per barrel is 1,550 euros, the court ordered the Cordier company to pay it 202,000 euros and Maison Genestat 152,000 euros. “This decision is important because it tells farmers that taking action against buyers who charge abusively low prices can, yes, yield results.”, says the wine producer’s lawyer. He sees a “Decision transposable to all agricultural products”Even if he admits to have taken such a step “This is not easy because farmers are afraid of possible retaliation from traders, fearing that no one will buy their produce from them anymore.”. Lawyers for the traders did not immediately respond.