Fuels and cash: The CNATP requires measures for Public Works and Landscape professionals

The rise in fuel prices has now become unsustainable for craftsmen and jeopardizes their sustainability.

If no profitability can be expected at this price level, companies will have to cease their loss-making activities.

Especially since, according to the alerts of the CNATP for a few months, the treasuries are at their lowest.

34.5% of Public Works and 20% of Landscapers with fewer than 20 employees say they have cash needs.

The reasons :

• Impossibility of passing on increases in materials and energy (for almost 2 years, end of 2020),
• Impossibility of invoicing certain unfinished projects due to shortages,
• Obligation to store the goods for signed works in progress or to be carried out,
• The impact of the sharp fuel price increases in the spring,
• Shortages and increases again this fall

Public works and landscaping have been fully affected by fuel price increases since 2021.

Despite all the precautions taken when drafting the contractual documents, they cannot pass on these daily increases since their activities are mainly concentrated on the non-revisable private market.

Remember that the fuel item is the second expense item after the payroll.

Construction and landscaping have never ceased their activities during the health crisis, without asking for support.

Today the CNATP urgently asks:

• The capping of taxes on fuels by restoring the "floating TICPE" in order to avoid the triple penalty of increases in fuel, TICPE and VAT (non-recoverable for certain fuels);
• An increase in the amounts of recovery of TICPE on road diesel for vehicles with a weight (PTAC) of 7,5 tonnes (currently non-proportional lump sums);
• An extension of the recovery of TICPE on the GNR and the road diesel of professional vehicles of less than 7,5 tons.

At the very least, even if the public works aid obtained by the CNATP in March for the March-June period as part of the construction resilience plan was very insufficient, the CNATP is asking for an extension as for sinners (extension until February 2023) and an extension to Landscape companies.