After the latest increases, oil companies believe that “there is little left” to reach the objective of ensuring that a liter of petrol in the country reaches the value export parity that is, the price level perceived by crude oil exporters.
Therefore, the goal of companies is to achieve international value $1.20 or $1.23 per liter ($996 or 1,020) in the case of superpetrol, which today costs $0.90 ($744 for YPF).
According to companies’ expectations, this goal would be achieved by March. However, inflationary pressure, falling demand and political ups and downs, among other factors, They’re extending the deadlines a bit. For this reason it is estimated that the oil companies – induced by the Government – They will moderate the expected increases reach the international price of oil.
In fact, the latest increase of 6.4% applied to all fuels starting from February was calculated considering only the transfer of part of two taxes (ICL and IDC) and the increase in the prices of biofuels which are used for cut, but the gradual increase in the official dollar was not taken into account.
After this latest adjustment, the price per liter of premium petrol from YPF, the oil company that marks the growth path, fell to 744 dollars and that of premium petrol to 918 dollars; while the diesel reached 784 and 998 dollars respectively. These values correspond to the Federal Capital, although they are higher – in general – within the country.
The strategy of allowing more moderate increases is framed, among other factors, also in the the impact that fuel increases have on other goods and services. Something that particularly worries the Government.
An equally important point in the possibility of adjusting prices at the pump is the purchasing capacity of consumers: in January, The drop in demand was between 10% and 20% throughout the market and this also places a limit on increases. In this sense, the energy sector even values it demand at petrol stations may continue to decline.
Source: Clarin
