|
Gas price investigation suggested
As of the end of October 23, no gas price decrease announcement had been made despite the sharp falls of oil and gas prices in the world’s market. The quietness of gas firms is irking the public.
By October 21, the gas price in the world market had decreased by $280/tonne over the end of September. What is happening on the domestic market?
All gas firms affirm that the gas price depends on the fixed import price announced at the end of every month. “As the import price is fixed for the whole month, we cannot reduce the retail price within the month. The fixed pricing allows us to stay safe in case the world’s price increases, but makes us suffer losses when the price decreases,” said Le Phuc Dai, Director of Vina Gas.
Tran Trung Chinh, Deputy General Director of VT Gas, said that the gas price has decreased continuously in the last three months, causing importers big losses.
“No one could have imagined that the gas price would drop so dramatically,” Chinh said.
The director of a gas company said that he had the big stock of several thousands of tonnes, which will make him lose VND2.5bil in October, while the loss is expected to be double in the following months.
“Experts have forecast sharp price decreases in the next months, so we are considering reducing imports, accepting fines for breaking contracts. We will have to pay VND1bil in fines, but we will lose more if we keep importing,” the director said.
However, the explanations by gas firms have not been accepted by consumers.
“It is illogical that gas firms say they cannot adjust retail prices within a month. They many times raised sale prices within a month before,” a customer said. In November and December 2007 and June 2008, gas prices were many times adjusted. Petrolimex Gas, for example, raised sale prices twice within three days.
The director of a company acknowledged that with the import price decreases, the domestic gas price could be lowered by VND50,000/12kg tank, a record decrease so far. However, the same director said that OPEC recently announced it would cut output, which could lead to a gas price increase again. “The price proves to be unpredictable. In the past, experts forecast a $60/tonne decrease, but the price then decreased by $20/tonne only,” he said.
Meanwhile, analysts say that even with import price decreases, the domestic retail price will not fall accordingly, because domestic firms would suffer heavy losses if they cut prices.
“The most likely scenario is that firms will reduce prices by VND40,000 instead VND50,000,” he said.
Director of the Domestic Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade Hoang Tho Xuan: It’s necessary to investigate gas firms and instruct them to cut prices
Under the decision by the Prime Minister, gas is subject to price control. In principle, gas trading firms need to register sale prices or declare sale prices. However, this has not been implemented as the circular on this issue has not been promulgated by the Ministry of Finance. In the immediate time, state management agencies can examine and instruct firms to cut prices.
There exist a lot of problems in the gas market. Some companies have quietly reduced prices by 10% just because of competition, not for consumers’ benefits. In the near future, when the circular by the Ministry of Finance is released, state management agencies will have the right to check input prices, expenses and the price structure and will heavily punish enterprises that deliberately don’t cut prices when the world’s prices decrease.
Ho Tat Thang, Deputy Chairman of the Association for Standards and Consumers Protection: the gas market has a lot of problems
Our association has asked the Ministries of Finance and Industry and Trade to make an overall investigation of the gas price and related issues such as quality, safety and measurement because we have found out that the gas market has problems.
The gas price in the world’s market has dropped sharply, while the price in Vietnam remains unchanged, which shows that companies have colluded with each other to set prices. State management agencies should take drastic measures to control the prices of essential products in order to protect consumers’ benefits.
VNN
|
