2023-09-18 12:50:00
The measure was until now taboo, but the government intends to pass the second one. After capping gasoline prices and the cost price at the pump to cope with inflation, the government has brought out the card of selling fuel at a loss which will be effective “at the beginning of December”.
“It will be effective from the beginning of December, I hope on December 1 since the text of the law will be examined in the Assembly at the beginning of October,” said this Monday the Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire on France 2 , two days after the Prime Minister’s announcement.
The two euro threshold
Élisabeth Borne announced on Saturday that distributors could sell gasoline “at a loss” for a few months to allow them to “lower prices further”, removing an old taboo since selling at a loss has been prohibited for sixty years. This summer, fuel prices started to rise again, coming close to the symbolic threshold of two euros, in the wake of the surge in oil prices.
Production cuts from Saudi Arabia, reduction in exports from Russia and dismal forecasts of a shortage of supply of black gold in the fourth quarter… The government continues to remind us of the external causes of this increase which is painful. -currency of the French. If he has ruled out a general rebate at the pump, as he did in 2022, for weeks he has continued to increase the number of announcements and calls for “solidarity” from distributors and suppliers.
Fight against inflation
Selling at a loss, the latest of the measures announced, has been prohibited in France since 1963 but demanded by certain major brands. However, it is criticized by service stations other than supermarkets, while experts fear limited long-term effects. “With this unprecedented measure, we will have tangible results for the French, without subsidizing fuel,” declared Élisabeth Borne, without retaining the opposition’s proposals which call for either a rebate like a year ago, or a reduction in gasoline taxation.
“Our method is to engage everyone, all economic players, in this fight against inflation,” said Bruno Le Maire on Monday, because “the State cannot alone bear the cost inflation, otherwise it will widen the deficits.” “The lifting of the ban on resale at a loss for fuel distributors will be included in the bill” on commercial negotiations between producers and distributors “presented at the beginning of October,” said government spokesperson Olivier Véran.
Some “skeptical” actors
Francis Pousse, president of the Mobilians professional union representing 5,800 service stations excluding supermarkets, however expressed his indignation: “My members live on 40, 50% or even more from the sale of fuel, so if they sell at a loss, I give them three months.” He also said he was “skeptical” about the beneficial effect of this measure on purchasing power, because if the prices of suppliers to large stores continue to increase, the latter will “not be able to afford to lose 15 cents on every liter of gasoline.
Many distributors have carried out fuel sales operations at cost price in recent months. Most had committed last week to continuing them until the end of the year when they were summoned by the Minister of Energy Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher. The sector generally makes gasoline and diesel a loss leader, taking only small margins on their distribution. In this context, the cost price only slightly reduces the price charged to the customer at the end of the chain.
1695042387
#Sale #loss #beginning #December #Maire