The major distributors in Martinique, “scapegoats” or “profiteers” of the high cost of living? – 10/18/2024 at 10:37

There is nothing left of the Carrefour Market in Rivière-Salée, a popular commune in Martinique, an island in the West Indies where large-scale distribution is a scarecrow, in the midst of a social movement against the high cost of living: food there costs 40% more than in mainland France.

First there is the burning smell, which persists a week after the fire. Then, rushing into the darkness, through tangled mad metal, charred rays, a gutted roof, a grayish magma which seems to have absorbed what escaped the looting.

In recent weeks, supermarkets and hypermarkets have been among the favorite targets of a mobilization marked by dazzling outbreaks of violence.

Large retailers are turning their backs. It is rather active behind the scenes, like the agreement reached on Wednesday with the State at the cost of concessions which will push it to reduce its margins to apply a reduction of 20% to the fund, on average.

Sébastien Daire has decided to break the code of silence, to no longer be seen as the local “devil”. The boss of eight Carrefour Markets on the island saw two of them go up in smoke last week, including the one in Rivière-Salée, on the night of October 10 to 11. Result: 15 million euros in damage, “without operating losses”, a building “ready to be razed” and around fifty unemployed employees for this store alone.

– Reduce margins –

“The cost of living is a real issue, no one denies it. Now we must attack the real causes and not find a scapegoat,” chokes the manager, floundering in a section of strong alcohol.

“We are at the end of the chain, the last place where the person takes out their credit card, their wallet”, analyzes Thursday with AFP Sébastien Daire, for whom the additional cost of food in Martinique is mainly explained by the transport of goods.

This is what he pleaded on Wednesday, like the rest of the large retail sector, during the last round of negotiations which led to an agreement, signed between the State, the Territorial Collectivity of Martinique and local stakeholders. , distributors and wholesalers in particular.

It is the “accumulation” of “collective efforts” contained in this agreement due to come into force in January 2025 which will make it possible to lower prices on 54 families of the most common products (pasta, butter, milk, etc.) , praised the prefect of Martinique.

Large retailers, in particular, have made a series of commitments, starting with “fully passing on the cost savings generated” by the agreement.

Under the terms of the document, brands will also have to “reduce margins (…) through a freeze on margin rates”.

– “Asphyxiated” –

“There is a historic effort that has been asked of distributors” while “we are the operator with the least room for maneuver in the entire supply chain,” worries Sébastien Daire, franchisee whose activity is “in danger”.

“We are going to be asphyxiated. A distributor, when things are going well, he has 1% of results compared to his turnover”, explains the one who says he is “condemned to lose money” because of the “structural” cost ” transport to the island, where a “bottle tripled in price upon its arrival on Martinique soil, even before we had made a margin”.

So many arguments which did not move the president of the Territorial Collectivity of Martinique, Serge Letchimy, who opened the last part of the negotiations with a diatribe against “profiteering on food” among local actors, visibly annoying the distributors, none of whom with the exception of Mr. Daire responded to AFP’s requests.

The collective at the origin of the protest movement, the RPPRAC, for its part doubts the sincerity of the sector in its promise to pass on the prices.

“How do we ensure that it will really go down? There is no guarantee,” underlined Gwladys Roger, one of the leaders of the movement, who did not sign the agreement partly for this reason.

According to the text, half-yearly audits are planned by the State to control “prices and (the) margins”.

It will be several semesters before Sébastien Daire’s stores reopen. In the desolate one in Rivière-Salée, only one thing remained intact, as if surprised not to be even covered in dust: the payment terminal, at the cash register.