Businesses want to decide gasoline prices themselves, Ministry of Industry and Trade says roadmap needed

Petroleum is a sensitive commodity that affects economic security and energy security. The implementation of petroleum prices according to market mechanisms needs to be carefully considered and have a roadmap for implementation.

Businesses want to decide gasoline prices themselves, Ministry of Industry and Trade says roadmap needed

Petroleum is a sensitive commodity that affects economic security and energy security. The implementation of petroleum prices according to market mechanisms needs to be carefully considered and have a roadmap for implementation.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, petroleum is a sensitive commodity that affects economic and energy security. The State still needs control tools.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade said that in the process of drafting the Decree replacing the Decrees on petroleum trading, the Ministry received many comments from ministries, branches, enterprises, and petroleum associations.

Besides the majority of opinions agreeing with the content of the draft Decree, there are still some content of viewpoints, including those related to the management of gasoline prices.

Gasoline is one of the 9 types of goods and services with price stabilization in the List of goods and services with price stabilization as prescribed in the Law on Prices, so a management mechanism is needed.

According to the current proposal, the State will announce the calculation formula, the average world price of petroleum products every 7 days, and the standard business costs, standard profits, and tax costs.

Petroleum wholesalers shall calculate and publish the petroleum selling price on the market based on the input factors announced by the State. The retail price of petroleum sold by petroleum wholesalers on the market shall not exceed the price calculated according to the prescribed formula.

However, during the process of collecting opinions on the draft Decree, there were other opinions. Representatives of the Vietnam Petroleum Association (Vinpa) and some traders proposed the content of the principle of adjusting the selling price of gasoline in the direction of: The State announcing the price calculation formula, international reference price and average premium; not announcing business costs and standard profits.

Based on the price calculation formula and the reference price announced by the State, the main petroleum traders and petroleum distributors decide on wholesale prices, retail prices and the time of price adjustment according to the market mechanism.

Petroleum traders are responsible for completing procedures to declare and announce the prices they decide according to the provisions of law. In case the petroleum market is unstable and there is a decision to stabilize prices, the principles for adjusting petroleum prices as stipulated in the draft Decree shall be followed.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the plan proposed by Vinpa representatives and some businesses has the advantage of helping businesses to be completely proactive in deciding on gasoline prices and is closer to the 2023 Price Law.

However, the disadvantage of this option is that the costs of different businesses will be different, leading to different gasoline prices in different areas, especially in remote areas, the costs will increase, causing difficulties for people in these areas; the state has no control tools and can lead to shortages, supply disruptions and shortages, and price hikes in remote areas.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade assessed that the draft Decree has the advantage that the State can maintain the tool to control gasoline prices, thereby monitoring the supply.

On the contrary, this option has the disadvantage that it will make the price of gasoline not close to the Law on Prices because the selling price of gasoline is still controlled through the ceiling price. Enterprises are not completely proactive in deciding prices according to the market mechanism.

"Managing gasoline prices according to market mechanisms is a big problem. Moreover, this is a sensitive commodity that affects economic security and energy security. Therefore, the proposal of the Vietnam Petroleum Association and some traders needs to be carefully considered and have a roadmap for implementation," the Ministry of Industry and Trade stated.

Although the content of the Draft Decree still maintains the tools to control prices, in order to take a step forward towards the roadmap of complete marketization of domestic gasoline and oil prices in the future, the Draft Decree is expected to: only announce the world gasoline and oil product prices for 02 popular gasoline and diesel products on the market (RON95-III gasoline, 0.05S diesel) instead of announcing the prices of 5 products as at present.

RON95-III gasoline and DO 0.05S-II diesel oil have a large consumption proportion and are popular gasoline and oil products on the market, affecting the majority of consumers, so the State needs to continue to announce world prices and input factors for businesses to calculate and announce according to the formula.

The remaining products of E5 RON 92 gasoline, fuel oil and kerosene have a small consumption proportion, so businesses can proactively announce the price adjustment period and decide the selling price on the market.

Traders who announce gasoline prices must declare prices according to regulations. In case of unreasonable price increases, they will be inspected and handled by competent state agencies.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade plans to submit two options to the Government: Option 1: keep the draft Decree unchanged and option 2 according to the proposal of the Association and representatives of a number of businesses.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/doanh-nghiep-muon-tu-quyet-gia-xang-dau-bo-cong-thuong-noi-can-lo-trinh-d230745.html