The recent global oil price rise to over US$100 per barrel has put pressure on Vietnamese petroleum importers, who complain about their losses of VND3,000 per liter of gasoline and VND1,000 per liter of oil, state media reported.
Many local petroleum traders are to propose relevant ministries and agencies to raise the retail prices of the products to balance their expenditures.
An official of the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that no enterprises have to date made official price hike proposals to the Joint Ministries of Industry and Trade, and Finance.
He elaborated that relevant authorities in Vietnam have not yet considered petroleum price hike in February due to current soaring consumer price index.
Local firms, however, rumor that Vietnam may apply petroleum price soar in early March if the global oil rate is as high as current.
Another official of the Ministry of Industry and Trade estimated that prices of both gasoline and oil may rise next month in Vietnam with the maximal supplement of VND1,000 for the former and the minimal added value of VND1,000 for the later.
According to a deputy director of a firm importing gasoline from Singapore, the current global oil price soar will hike the local rates by US$10 per barrel in the near future, and his company is loosing between VND1,000 and VND1,500 per liter of gasoline A92 sales.
An expert said that the situation in Vietnam’s market will be improved if the country has a big oil reserve and local importers have flexible importing mechanism.
The Vietnamese government has recently demanded the Ministry of Finance to end subsidy for gasoline prices of wholesale importers, and consider assisting enterprises by slowing down the imposition of import taxes when the global prices fall.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said at a recent seminar on petroleum that if the government continues subsidy for petroleum products, the compensation for sales may climb VND10 trillion (US$625 million) in the first half of this year.
The government has lifted imported taxes on petroleum products, which is estimated to cause a loss of VND8 trillion (US$500 million) to the Stat budget, the PM attributed. (Pionner, VietNamNet, Labor)
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