Although the increases in the price of petrol are persistent and at first glance also the growth of the car fleet, for some petrol stationsThese stimuli are not enough. This is the case of “white” stations, i.e. those that do not have the name of an oil company, in which the deficit-profit equation It’s your Achilles heel. For this reason, among others, 45 stations have been closed in the last year of this market segment, according to data from the Ministry of Energy.
According to resolution 1102 of this portfolio, the number of points of sale with these characteristics has decreased in 15 provinces of the country. The greatest loss was recorded in the province of Buenos Aires, where 19 Bocas: in March 2022 there were a total of 262 operating points in the province, of which 183 sold only with liquid fuels and 79 dual (with methane). That total number of stations has been reduced to 243, according to official figures.
Other jurisdictions affected by the pump shutdowns were Between Rios, Formosa and Neuquen (where five stations in each province were closed). In Three were closed in La Pampa, two in Misiones and three in San Luis. Meanwhile, there were three districts where new mouths were opening: in Catamarca four were addedIn Santa Fe, two and in Santiago del Estero, five more.
According to Guillermo Lego, manager of the Confederation of Hydrocarbons and Related Trade Entities of the Argentine Republic (CECHA), “in general terms, the proceeds of service stations with practically “fixed” prices and costs adjusted for inflation, including salary, updated through parity, make the operational and economic maintenance of service stations very complicated”. “In particular, those ‘whites’ who depend on a wholesale supplier”points.
For the manager, the station has two determining factors. The first is the purchase price of fuels generally higher than the prices at which peak service stations can be purchased.
The second is that the volumes with which they can be supplied are constantly limited, as oil companies channel their production to supply brand outlets and then to wholesale distributors who feed white people.
Finally, it is necessary to account the incidence of the agro-industrial movement. “Generally the white stations supply the field machines, but today, due to the drought, their sales are severely limited,” according to the director of the vending room.
“In short, whoever receives the product buys at a high price and has to sell at competitive prices, with which margins are very slim and whoever doesn’t receive it, either due to quota or due to drought, finds themselves in a bigger problem, ” summarizes Lego.
“For a long time -even in times of pandemic- they have tried to survive, but -from last year to today- there were 45 gas stations that could not continue and with this situation they inevitably had to close. To the extent that costs increased from month to month and income decreased or at best remained static, they generated he ‘no longer goes’ for many of them!.
Lastly, CECHA points out that the closures declared in the Secretariat of Energy are 45″,but there may be others that have not yet been reported”, have indicated in the entity.
NS
Source: Clarin
