report
Belgium: Colruyt supermarkets ration oil and flour
Audio 01:22
A half-empty oil shelf in a Belgian supermarket.
AFP - FRANCOIS WALSCHAERTS
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
In Belgium, in the context of the war in Ukraine, some brands are already taking measures to limit purchases of certain products.
This is particularly the case for the supermarkets of the Colruyt group, which have been rationing purchases of oil and flour since Friday.
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With our correspondent in Brussels,
Jean-Jacques Héry
The decision is preventive and aims to avoid the build-up of stocks by their customers.
In the supermarket, Saturday customers push and fill their shopping carts little by little.
But once they reach the back of the store, where the oil and flour are sold, customers find themselves faced with an unusual sign: “
Oil and flour, maximum two pieces per customer.
»
In the department, Fleur finds it sad that we have to come to this.
“
It makes people a little more reasonable.
The shelves are empty because people are a bit paranoid and afraid of everything.
So they stockpile, like in wartime.
Five packets, five bottles… They think only of themselves
”, she testifies.
Proof that rationing is not enough, in the space reserved for flour, there are no more bags left for sale.
And it's hardly better on the other side of the aisle, where only a few bottles of oil still remain.
“
At least,
slips a manager,
a greater number of customers have been able to buy them.
»
"People are rushing for basic necessities"
In recent days, supermarket chains have assured that there was no supply problem.
But it is difficult to fight fear.
Customers fear the shortage and the rise in prices, regrets Yann: “
People are rushing for basic necessities which will ultimately all end up in the trash in six months, because no one will have used them.
The flour, we will find it in the trash in a year, because there will be worms in it, because no one will have made a cake.
»
He has already made his bet on the next product that will be rationed at Colruyt: "
If I think back to what happened during confinement,
I'm counting on toilet paper
", he says with a smile of spite.
► To read also: "Food prices could increase by 8 to 20%"
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