If not a total, but a spectacular price reduction is coming to Hungarian gas stations – it was revealed in the information provided by Holtankoljak on Monday morning. According to the fuel price monitoring blog, the wholesale price of diesel will fall significantly this week, by HUF 8 gross, from Wednesday, while the price of gasoline will not change.
Regardless, the Minister of National Economy did not retract his threat that they will continue to monitor price developments with a prying eye, and if they find unreasonably overpriced components that raise them above the regional average prices, they will intervene. He announced this for the first time in September of last year, when the average price of gasoline hovered around HUF 650, but even now there is a continuous increase. In April, the domestic gasoline price already exceeded the regional average by 5 percent, in the case of diesel, price fluctuations were even more significant than gasoline, in January the monthly average already exceeded HUF 700.
Gábor Egri, the president of the Association of Independent Gas Stations, is cautious: until he knows exactly what decision will be made at Karmelita this week, he is reluctant to comment on the words of the Minister of National Economy. However, he notes that the government is preparing to make a decision based on rather superficial calculations. After the minister asked the Central Statistical Office to show what Hungarian fuel prices are like in a regional comparison, the CSO “slammed its ankles” and came up with a series of numbers. This really revealed that “in regional comparison, Hungarian gasoline is indeed expensive”.
When it came to light what kind of method the office was working with, the statisticians were outraged and thought it important to warn the authorities that the method used was still only in the experimental stage. There may also be problems with its quality, methodology, accuracy, reliability, coherence and comparability. The Minister of National Economy is not bothered by this in the least, he just waited for the first set of data to come out and announce that the government is meeting and is preparing to make some kind of decision based on this in the next few days.
“We have a very bad feeling”, said Egri, and added: those who have been asked about expectations so far have said that it is hardly possible to make a realistic decision based on incorrect numbers. “If this is how important economic decisions are usually made in Hungary, there could be very serious problems with the decision-making system. Who can say which of the national economic figures built on such unstable foundations are true or false? In this situation, are businesses allowed to invest even a single HUF?” – inquired as the economic manager of a company.
Among the statements that have come to light so far, the independent gas station owners raised their heads at a half-sentence of the minister. Márton Nagy believes that the margin within the retail price can be the point where the unjustified “profiteering” of wheelers can be pinched. Gábor Egri immediately answered this with a list and questions. What is the Robin Hood tax of 41 percent of the profit paid for? What do they have to manage the business tax from? What covers employees’ wages, benefits, personal income tax, and various other contributions? “We have nowhere to back down,” he declared.
As an example, he mentioned a price of HUF 640, half of which – HUF 320 – goes into the budget immediately in the form of some kind of tax. The VAT is already 7-8 percent higher in our country than in other countries, the 27 percent “sits” on top of each item. The excise tax for gasoline is HUF 152.55 per liter and for diesel, HUF 142.90 per liter. For every liter sold, they must pay HUF 3.30 stocking fee and HUF 8.50 as an Energy Efficiency Contribution. The retail tax was only 0.1 percent last year, but this year it has risen to 3 percent. In short, the producer price is only 35-36 percent of the commercial price of the fuel.
The memory of the fuel price stop that was introduced and failed two years ago still “resonates”, especially in the minds of the owners of the gas stations operated by the family business. If the government were to come up with a similar idea again, how could businesses that are already financially shaken survive such a move? Do they have a plan, an emergency scenario? They don’t want to talk about this in advance, but Egri thinks that it has already crossed the minds of everyone involved and they are looking for an answer. “Of course, we certainly won’t do anything one at a time, the “dumpling” will come together, which won’t be very easy to swallow,” he said somewhat enigmatically.
That “certain” year had a great impact on the profession, and it also left its mark on the market-leading large companies. An important change here is that a new manager has taken over at Shell, and in the case of OMV, the change of government in Austria must also be taken into account. In Vienna, they would hardly be partners in having to subsidize the loss of their network in Hungary again. Fuel produced from Russian crude oil can no longer be imported from Bratislava this year, in 2022 Slovnaft helped MOL with 2 million tons, but this source has been blocked. TVK and Százhalombatta remained, but it turned out that the latter’s 70-year-old refinery could not withstand such a load once again.
“The security of supply should not be ignored when the government intends to intervene in economic processes from the outside. The market players should not be harassed, but reassured,” Gábor Egri summed up his opinion on the current situation.
Tags: Fuel prices market participants reassured
-
