Morocco: service stations launch a cry for help

"These illegal commercial practices are detrimental to the national economy and to service stations as citizen companies that have lost the majority of their major customers, including public institutions’ contracts and tenders, which raises questions about the origin and quality of this fuel," the Federation said in a statement.

The owners and managers of the stations argue that this situation "now threatens the security of this organized sector, in which thousands of Moroccans have invested millions of dirhams to develop spaces worthy of 21st century Morocco, thus contributing to creating direct and permanent jobs for hundreds of thousands of their fellow citizens, only to find themselves facing unfair and illegitimate competition that respects neither the laws, nor the regulations, nor even the most basic standards of commercial ethics."

The Federation says it is concerned about the extent of the phenomenon of illegal fuel sales in recent times, noting that "the profit margin in this unstructured market has reached record levels, while service station sales have dropped considerably." The latter are now reduced to selling insignificant quantities of fuel to individuals and small businesses, complains the Federation, which notes that the meager resources from these sales are not enough to cover the management costs of the stations.

Overwhelmed by the situation, the owners and managers of the stations are calling on the government for help, asking it to urgently take measures to put an end to the illegal sale of diesel and gasoline at retail.