“We are moving towards operations at cost price, but it will not be permanent,” says the boss of Système U

PARIS, September 26 (Reuters) – Sales operations at cost price on fuel will be one-off and not permanent, the president of Système U, Dominique Schelcher, assured Tuesday a few hours before a meeting in Matignon between the government and distributors French.
The executive, which had initially proposed sales at a loss on fuel, had to revise its copy in the face of opposition from distributors who considered the measure economically untenable.

Sunday evening, President Emmanuel Macron proposed setting up sales at cost price, a measure which will be discussed in the afternoon between Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and the distribution groups.

“We are moving towards operations at cost price but it will not be permanent cost price (…) We cannot either,” declared Dominique Schelcher interviewed on BFM/RMC.

“We can carry out operations at cost price regularly, the next one is announced (…) and there will be an additional commitment. But it cannot be permanent,” he added. “We have had a lot of input from the government since yesterday, Bercy, the advisors. The request made to us is indeed weekends at cost price, which are increasing, to support the French,” Dominique Schelcher further clarified.

Questioned also about the agreement of “moderation on margins” in the food sector desired by Emmanuel Macron, Dominique Schelcher welcomed the upcoming reopening of negotiations between distributors and large manufacturers.

“We need to go into detail about this announcement [sur l’accord, ndlr]. I understand it above all as the moderation of the margins of large manufacturers because in the chain, the lowest margin is with us.” (Written by Blandine Hénault, edited by Kate Entringer)