Pricele #39: Milk (1 litre) in France 🇫🇷

Milk is heavy, perishable and awkward to ship, so it is almost always produced close to where it is drunk. That makes its price a read on local farming costs rather than world markets — and in much of the EU, on agricultural subsidies, which push retail prices below what production alone would imply.

Of the 32 countries priced for milk, France ranks #20 from the top at $1.37 — 11% below the median of $1.54.

France sits in the middle of the eurozone range. Its grocery sector is shaped by decades of price-control law governing what supermarkets may charge relative to what they pay suppliers, which compresses the spread between chains. Food carries 5.5% TVA against a 20% standard rate, one of the wider gaps in Europe between what a country charges on groceries and what it charges on everything else. The café items are the ones to watch here: prepared food and drink consumed on the premises are taxed differently from the same items taken away, which is part of why a French cappuccino and a French litre of milk sit in such different places relative to their neighbours.

See the full table for milk in every country or everything priced in France.