The last YPF price increase was on March 14th.
The oil companies Axion and Shell decided to rise starting midnight on Sunday the price of your fuels between 10.5% and 12%. The proposal left state oil company YPF, which refused to make new adjustments to prices, after raising them for the last time in March.
This is an unusual situation: this is the first time that the oil company has been controlled by the national state is left to adjust the sale price and that the increases were driven by two private companies.
As explained in the fuel sector in Clarionthe new increase is justified by triggering various variables that affect the retail price, particularly the international oil prices, quoted at $ 113 USD per barrel of Brent. So is the gap between income and costs due to inflation, which puts greater pressure.
In addition, demand levels were higher than pre-pandemic, which forced oil tankers to import fuel to complement local supply. Yes ok a barrel of oil in Argentina is sold in half, between US $ 57 and US $ 560 per unitlocal refineries are usually supplied with crude produced in the domestic market, but there is also a portion that must be imported.
Another factor that hit the sector was the war between Russia and Ukraine, which caused rising oil and energy prices around the world.. Approximately 20% of what is sold in the country is imported. According to sector reports, some refiners lost up to $ 100 million in recent weeks for increasing the price of that product.
This, to some extent, puts pressure on the strategy of the company led by Pablo Gonzalez, who You have to choose whether you will follow your competitors or whether to keep your prices and absorb the market they will leave. It is that in a context of high inflation, no company can sell its product 10% above its competitors, without losing market share.
If YPF decides to keep its prices frozen and will not make any adjustments in the coming days, it should have enough stock to meet the demand of those who have stopped filling Axion and Shell tanks.
In this update, the Shell super liter has risen to $ 123.20, while the V-Power Nafta is in the range of 150 pesos ($ 149.50) to Federal Capital. Standard diesel, meanwhile, hit $ 118 per liter and premium at $ 145.20 Axion Energy’s slate moved at the same price, albeit a bit lower.
According to Nicolás Gandini, director of Econojournal, if you choose this approach eventually could force its competitors to “come back” so as not to get away with state oil company priceswhich holds almost 60% of the market.
With this increase, fuels are adding up to an increase of just over 30% so far this year, slightly higher than inflation, which in the CPI calculated by INDEC is at 22%.
However, stationers warn that the price is still below the optimal equilibrium they need to operate. In 2021, due to the price freeze applied by the government, gasoline will be nearly 20 points below inflation. IPC was 50.9, while gasoline was up 30%
As published by expert media, there have been informal talks between the three major market players, but the oil company led by Pablo González proposed to postpone the decision to avoid the impact of rising oil prices on inflationary expectations. The question is whether private companies can now continue to raise prices, in case the YPF decides to remain unchanged.
Source: Clarin
