The Vietnam National Petroleum Corporation (Petrolimex) has recently announced that currently, petrol trading businesses are losing VND 700 (3.66 cents USD) for every litre of petrol they are selling on the market, in accordance with the latest price list on March 15.
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| This could signal there will be another adjustment in petrol prices. |
Petrolimex told DTiNews, “Over the past 30 days, A92 petrol has been sold at USD 87.10 per barrel in the Singapore market, our main petrol supplier. Diesel fuel is currently being sold for USD 86.62 per barrel, kerosene for USD 85.89 per barrel, and mazut fuel goes for USD 472.27 per tonne.”
With current import prices plus all the public charges, taxes, exchange rate differences, and deductions, the price of A92 petrol when sold on the Vietnamese market should be VND 17,949 (94 cents USD) per litre; however it is currently selling at VND 16,990 (89 cents USD). If deducting VND 300 (1.5 cents USD) as a fixed interest, every litre of A92 petrol is losing of VND 659 (3 cents USD) to businesses.
Respectively, diesel fuel is selling at a loss of VND 332 (1.7 cents USD) per litre, kerosene at VND 414 (2.2 cents USD) and mazut fuel at VND 115 (0.6 cents USD) per kilogram.
Comparing this price list against the basic price selling in the market, the capital rate with petrol price has increased by 5.6%, diesel fuel 4.9%, kerosene 4.8% and mazut fuel 3.2%. These calculations of Petrolimex are based on the VND and USD exchange rate of VND 19,000 for USD 1; 20% tax on petrol and kerosene and 15% tax on diesel and mazut fuel.
Therefore, it is likely that petrol prices will be increased very soon. In accordance with Decree 84, petrol businesses are allowed to adjust their prices according to market price. The period between two price increases is maximum 10 days, and at least 10 days for each price discount period.
