By Andrea Hargraves 
The CEO (CEO) of Sonae, Claudia Azevedo, rejects the possibility of rationing the sale of some products after the war in Ukraine, stressing that the group’s warehouses “do not lack anything.”
“In the last two years of the pandemic, we have gained strength in resilience and creativity. We spent two years, specifically at Sonae MC [retalho alimentar]Every day, we ask ourselves whether there is a shortage of products or not. And in fact, with a lot of work, we’ve been able to ensure that we always have the products. If we don’t have a place, we’ll buy another one. “We will always be like this,” the Sonae leader said during the group’s results presentation, which was held today at Maia.
Noting that “Continente is 36 years old” and has “already gone through several economic cycles”, Cláudia Azevedo asserted that Sonae, whether “with its own brand or with a supplier brand”, “will try to find creative ways to supply other products and baskets.”
Regarding the restrictions – currently in force in both the supermarket and hypermarket of Sonae, and in other operators – on the sale of sunflower oil, which is imported from Ukraine, the CEO of Sonae refuses to consider them “legalization”.
“I wouldn’t call it rationing, because we have a lot of sunflower oil in our warehouse. What we and many other operators didn’t want is for people to buy 50 bottles because of some news, when they only need two, and, there, there could be a shortage. I would. To say it is more about order formation, because there has been no shortage,” he said, adding: “In our warehouses, at the moment, nothing is missing and we don’t expect it to be.”
In response to a question from Lusa about the possibility of extending this practice to other products, Claudia Azevedo emphasized that this was unexpected. “Only if something crazy happens,” he said.