French Supermarket Brands Plan Fuel Operations at Cost Price Amid Soaring Fuel Prices

To help the French cope with soaring fuel prices, several supermarket brands are planning fuel operations at cost price. In addition to TotalEnergies, which has just announced that the price of its fuel will remain capped at 1.99 euros, other brands are already offering attractive offers at their service stations.

Cost-price operations should multiply everywhere in France, to the relief of motorists for whom going to the service station has become an ordeal with the cost of fuel approaching the symbolic threshold of 2 euros. Compared to July, an increase of 24 cents was noted for SP95-E10 and 21 cents for diesel.

It is in this context that TotalEnergies announced the maintenance of the cap on the price of its fuel at 1.99 euros per liter beyond December 31, 2023. This is also the wish expressed by the Minister of the Economy , Bruno Le Maire. At the same time, major distribution brands have announced cost-price fuel operations. A Système U representative explained that for a supermarket, fuel is a loss leader, which means that the net margins it generates are minimal, of the order of 2 to 3 cents per liter. Consequently, when the brand carries out a cost price operation for a 50 liter tank, the saving is only a little more than one euro.

Fuel prices: the government’s call heard by many distributors

You should know that Casino launched the operation at the beginning of September. This will last until October 22. During this period, the Casino #hyperFrais and Géant Casino stores offer fuel at cost price on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. In addition, the Intermarché group will launch a similar operation one weekend per month until the end of the year, notably on September 29 and 30, October 27 and 28, November 24 and 25, as well as the 15 and December 16.

For his part, Leclerc has already organized nine weekends of operations at cost price during the summer, but he has not yet communicated on the possibility of renewing this offer. It is also important to note that the government has not planned any generalized rebate, recalling that the 2022 operation had cost the State 8 billion euros. It should also be remembered that these operations take place at a time when the price of oil has reached peaks on international markets and the government, which does not intend to make any effort to help consumers, has relied on the solidarity of distributors. .