Sainsbury’s CEO Simon Roberts has welcomed the CMA’s move to make retailers publish live data on fuel charges as he denied the supermarket sector was benefitting from the cost-of-living crisis.
The chief executive said the grocer didn’t have a margin target for fuel, despite accusations from ministers yesterday that supermarkets were overcharging customers at the pump.
“We’ve been really consistent that we’re the cheapest or the second cheapest in every location that we trade in. And that’s been something we’ve been absolutely determined to maintain,” he said.
Roberts’ comments come after the CMA found that increased supermarket profit margins led to drivers paying an extra 6p per litre for fuel last year.
The Sainsbury’s chief also highlighted that any money made on fuel was reinvested in keeping a lid on food price inflation.
“Any benefit we see from any other part of our business…gets invested right back into the food business, to keep our food prices as low as they possibly can be,” he insisted.
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Amid claims that supermarkets are benefitting amid the cost-of-living crisis, which has seen prices soar, Roberts reiterated that Sainsbury’s makes less than 3% margin.
He also said it was doing everything it could to pass on cost savings on commodities “as soon as possible” to shoppers.
However, despite falling inflation levels, Roberts said prices would not return to pre-Ukraine levels.
“Inflation levels are going to come down this year,” he said.“We would expect inflation to continue to improve but it’s not going to go back to where it was before because the cost of producing food is clearly elevated from where it was a year or two back”.
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