"We No Longer Know What to Say to Customers" : Small Independent Fuel Stations Still Await Fuel Price Cuts

This text corresponds to part of the transcription of the report above. Click on the video to watch it in full. At 2.35 euros per liter of diesel, prices are still high on Saturday October 31 in the morning at an independent station in the Channel.

The reduction announced by the government does not convince motorists. "I'm not expecting anything at all. That's it, there's no point.

Because that's what we said last time, that it had to go down, in the end, it never went down. So, I don’t really believe in it,” confides one of them. “It’s not going to go down as much as it did years ago, so it is what it is.

Finally, we're getting used to it a little," adds another. Same feeling of concern for Christophe Cavey. The fuel distributor has his eyes fixed on the price of a barrel, which is still increasing.

“Because we no longer know what to say to customers. We no longer know what to tell them. Everyone is calling, everyone is waiting for the drop,” he confides during a call with a supplier who is also in the dark.

According to him, strategic stocks will not be released before November 6. "We made them all believe that we were going to drop on Monday. In the end, she told me: 'We, on Monday, will not have new prices'", he explains to France Télévisions.

A zero-interest loan offered by the governmentIn the meantime, he will have to buy his diesel at market price and cut into his margins to lower the price at the pump. “We are going to see several tankers, so prices are not changing. So we will load Monday morning anyway.

We will have no choice, we are empty,” notes Christophe Cavey. Empty tanks that will nevertheless have to be filled. “There, we have about 7,000 liters of GNR left, 17,000 of diesel,” he explains.

With 30% losses since the start of the crisis, the family company feels abandoned and fears that the situation will get worse. “It’s keeping me from sleeping now. The outstanding debts, all that.

For us, it’s huge, small companies like us,” worries the fuel distributor. “The government, once again, got carried away and promised nice words and in the end, there is nothing. Once again,” regrets his son, Baptiste Cavey.

The government is still offering a zero-interest loan to these independent stations in rural areas, which may help them lower prices without affecting their cash flow.

Machine-translated from French