Philippe Folgado // Photo credit: JOEL SAGET / AFP 20:20 pm, September 21, 2023

The sale of fuels at a loss continues to be controversial. The idea launched by Elisabeth Borne's government was widely rejected by major retailers. For Michel-Édouard Leclerc, guest of Laurence Ferrari's Punchline on Europe 1 and CNews, such a measure would even have consequences on the price of food.

The government thought that letting petrol stations sell at a loss was a good idea for the purchasing power of the French, and this finally turns into a real headache for the executive, because this is not the opinion of the big distributors. Michel-Édouard Leclerc, President of the Strategic Committee of the E.Leclerc centers, spoke for the first time since the beginning of the controversy, at the microphone of Laurence Ferrari in the program Punchline. It clearly explains its refusal to implement such a measure.

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"It's not a good idea"

"All distributors responded negatively. Firstly because we do not know how to sell at a loss." In addition, according to Michel-Édouard Leclerc, selling at a loss would have significant financial consequences for the group, starting with employees who would lose their purchasing power: "for our employees, it means no participation, no interest, no bonus, it's not a good thing".

And who says selling at a loss, says that it will have to compensate elsewhere. And in the case of the Leclerc group, the compensation would go towards an increase in food prices, prices that are already high because of the inflation that has affected the France for several months. "Lowering fuel prices by 2 or 3 cents, which is our margin, even if they are considerable masses from a financial point of view, would mean raising food prices or current consumption again. So it's not a good idea," concluded Michel-Édouard Leclerc at the microphone of Laurence Ferrari.