1y ago

France to allow loss-making petrol sales to bust fuel inflation

www.thelocal.fr France to allow loss-making petrol sales to bust fuel inflation

The French government has announced plans to allow retailers to sell fuel at a loss - even though French law currently prohibits doing so - with hopes that the measure will bring down prices at the pump for consumers.

28 comments

Hm I'm not convinced that's a good idea or even one that works. It probably only drives those who can't afford sell-at-loss prices into insolvency before prices rise again. Imo the high gas prices aren't even the main problem, it's the lack of affordable and reliable alternatives.
- It probably only drives those who can’t afford sell-at-loss prices into insolvency
  That's exactly why it's generally not allowed.
  I also don't really see what should motivate petrol companies to keep prices low after pricing out smaller competitors.
  
  France is run by neoliberal dipshits now. They probably have decided that they want the small places out of business to "improve efficiency." Also short-termist deregulation policies that leave everyone off worse in the long run is kinda their bag.
- That's the reason it's banned in the first place.
  Large companies would come into a market and sell their products for huge losses until the local competition went bankrupt. After the competition is gone, prices would go much higher than they were before.
- This is probably just going to cause small individual retailers to go under while being taken over by larger groups. This is a bad move that isn't even going to move prices in a meaningful way.

Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, prices are expected to hit €2.40 per liter next year…
- And? You have good public transport and good bike infrastructure. Make it 5€
  
  Public transport is also increasing in price quite significantly. So expensive, in fact, that it would be cheaper for my girlfriend to go to uni by car (about an hour’s drive) once her free student travel runs out, than it would be to take a discount (!!!) subscription for the route from home to uni by train. Public transport here is good, but it’s suffering from enshittification due to underfunding and sky high prices. It’s a shame. And unfortunately, a 45km one-way bike trip isn’t feasible most days. Not time-wise anyway.
- Uff. Where did you read that?
  
  https://www.rtlnieuws.nl/economie/artikel/5403394/benzine-prijs-diesel-brandstof-stijging-accijns-kabinet
  Basically, it will increase about 20 cents per liter. Coupled with the fact that the advisory price is currently around €2.30 (lowest I’ve seen recently was €2.10), yeah…

If fuel prices are artificially lowered in a country, it will be an advantage for local companies to the detriment of competitors based in other countries. I wonder how the EU can allow such a form of protectionism. Oh, silly me, I just forgot EU == France 🤣
- As a German I feel offended that you don't attribute anything bad in the EU to Germany.
  
  German EU dictatorship singlehandedly forces lower French petrol prices!
  Also something something nuclear power!
- You're not making any sense. There are already huge disparities between EU countries based on tax structures, and it's not causing huge distortions. I can guarantee you petrol will still be cheaper in Luxembourg.
  
  That's how politicians from all parties always justify not doing anything to defend local industries.

28 comments