Brazil retail tycoon Diniz says native supermarkets have been quick to regulate to COVID-19 By Reuters

© Reuters. Abilio Diniz, Carrefour's third largest shareholder, shows at a meeting of the Council for Economic and Social Development (CDES) in the Planalto Palace in Brasilia

By Gabriela Mello

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian retail veteran and Carrefour SA (PA 🙂 board member Abílio Diniz said Thursday that Brazil had adopted new protocols to deal with the coronavirus pandemic faster than some European countries.

"Take Italy, France, Belgium and Spain, for example, we have implemented the protocols better and Carrefour Brasil has registered very few cases of coronavirus," Diniz said on Thursday evening in a webcast by the Brazilian supermarket association Abras.

Diniz is a board member of both the parent company Carrefour SA and its local subsidiary Carrefour Brasil SA (SA 🙂 and the Brazilian meat packaging company BRF (SA :).

His father founded Pao de Acucar, the company that became GPA SA (SA 🙂 decades later, one of the largest food retailers in Brazil. Diniz left GPA in 2013 after disagreement with the French majority shareholder casino Guichard Perrachon SA (PA :), a key rival of Carrefour in both France and Brazil.

While large retail chains are quickly adapting to the challenges of COVID-19, smaller retailers, according to Abras President João Sanzovo, are having difficulty maintaining operations.

"The loans do not reach the smaller companies and the government has now recognized this," said Sanzovo.

Diniz agreed that access to credit is still difficult for small businesses, and said cash is key to weathering the ongoing crisis.

"This is the most violent crisis I have ever seen, as it is difficult to tell when it will end," he said. The addition of supermarkets is likely to keep the coronavirus-related protocols long after the pandemic ends.

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