The level of fuel prices in France continues to cause controversy. Following the investigation by BFM Business and the government’s response asking distributors to lower their margins due to the drop in oil prices, it is up to the CLCV association to denounce the “explosive margins” of these same distributors.
“After a period in which distributors were with very low margins, even losses, it seems that gross margins have been exceptionally high since the beginning of 2023. If it was probably a margin reconstruction operation after having made purchasing power gestures this summer, these explosive margins are no longer justified. Prices at the pump must decrease by 10 cents,” a press release read.
Housing consumption Ambiente de vida has prepared the evolution of the gross margins of fuel distribution according to data from the French Union of Petroleum Industries (UFIP).
A gross margin that went from 15 to 25 cents per liter
“The gross margin of ‘transport distribution’ is generally around 15 cents per liter (annual averages from 2018 to 2021). After starting 2022 with a fairly high margin, the latter has fallen to very low levels because distributors have chosen not to pass on all the very strong rise in the price of crude oil after the crisis in Ukraine. This gross margin has even been negative in some months,” explains the association, which salutes the “effort” of the distributors during this period.
Problem, since the beginning of 2023, “this margin is at a historical record, exceeding 25 cents per liter.”
“It is clear that dealers have been taking very high margins for the last 4 months to make up for their losses in the second half of 2023. This recovery could be agreed on the condition that it is assumed in a transparent manner. except in France”, continues CLCV, collecting the conclusions of the BFM Business survey.
“Delirium”
“Large distribution and oil groups continue to say that they are betting on purchasing power, it is time for this to be translated into action,” says the association, which “will not hesitate to denounce the competent authorities if gross margins do not return to normal before Early summer.”
“Les margins brutes, c’est un fait et c’est un calculo impossible à answer, sont passed à 23 puis 25, 26, 29 centimes en april. C’est pas les histoires de 2 centimes de Michel-Edouard Leclerc, ce are the margins nettes who are not pas objective, on ne peut pas les calculer donc il raconte ce qu’il veut mais the margins brutes are less than 25 centimes” rhetorque François Carlier who estimates that Michel-Edouard Leclerc “fait semblant de not understand”.
The Minister for Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, reiterated on Tuesday her calls to distributors for fuel prices to “fall faster” and reflect “as faithfully as possible” the fall in international oil prices.
Crude prices have been hovering around $70-75 a barrel since early May, returning to levels not seen since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022.
Source: BFM TV
