France: explosion of road transport prices in March

MONTHLY BAROMETER. Unsurprisingly, road transport prices in France skyrocketed in March according to our Upply barometer. The war in Ukraine has literally exploded oil prices.

Since the beginning of 2022 and especially in March, there is a form of alignment of the planets that is dragging down our economy in a way never seen before.

• In France, election periods are traditionally synonymous with a decrease in consumption and investment.
• This year, the campaign for the presidential elections has been relegated to the background, by an event whose consequences have been even more brutal for the economy: the war in Ukraine. Soaring fuel prices, the shutting down of markets in the East due to economic sanctions against Russia and its allies: these factors have directly contributed to a rise in inflation, which reached 4.5% in March on a year-on-year basis according to the provisional results of the INSEE.
• In March, the situation on the Covid-19 pandemic front also remains worrying, with an upward trend in the number of infections being seen again. The economic impact remains rather limited, but this phenomenon is a reminder that the crisis is not totally behind us.

In this context, road transport prices have undergone an upward movement of an unprecedented magnitude. They increased by 2.1% compared to the previous month and by 8.2% year-on-year, according to the Upply Freight Index (UFI Road France).

Source : Upply Freight Index, Road France