07/08/2024 – 14:38
Petrobras announced this Monday, the 8th, that the average price of gasoline sold to distributors will be adjusted by 7% starting this Tuesday, the 9th. Thus, the price of a liter of fuel will be, on average, R$3.01, an increase of R$0.20 per book.
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This is the first adjustment in the price of gasoline in 2024. The last increase was on August 16, 2023. And, on October 21 of last year, Petrobras applied a reduction of R$0.12, or 4.09%, in the average sale price of type A gasoline to distributors, which became R$2.81.
Petrobras calculates an average impact of R$0.15 on the average price of a liter of gasoline at gas stations.
Lag
The announcement comes as market agents have pointed out that the company’s average gasoline and diesel prices are below those practiced on the foreign market.
The time lag impacts the market, especially importers, since Brazil is not self-sufficient in the production of these derivatives and, therefore, depends on external purchases.
“This adjustment is still not enough to eliminate the gap found,” said the president of the Brazilian Association of Fuel Importers (Abicom), Sergio Araujo, to Reuters.
According to calculations by Abicom, Petrobras gasoline would actually need an adjustment of 18%, or R$0.59 per liter, to be on par with the foreign market.
Along the same lines, consultancy StoneX calculated the need for an adjustment of 19.9%, or R$0.56 per liter, before the announcement, to achieve parity.
Diesel
StoneX’s head of oil, gas and renewables, Smyllei Curcio, highlighted that there is an expectation of an increase in the price of Petrobras diesel, due to the greater external dependence on fossil fuels.
For StoneX, diesel needs an adjustment of 8.4%, while Abicom calculates this need at 15%.
Petrobras has not adjusted diesel prices since December.
Since May of last year, Petrobras has stopped following the so-called import parity price (PPI) as a mandatory requirement, after publishing a new commercial strategy, which aims to consider other variables in the pricing of its products, with the promise of being the best option for its customers and suppliers, while guaranteeing its profitability.
In this way, the new strategy allowed the company to maintain stable prices for longer, seeking to avoid volatility.
In May, company executives stated that the pricing policy for diesel has been successful in avoiding passing on volatility from the external market to the internal market and also allows the company to continue making a profit.
According to them, diesel margins were pressured by the increase in the biodiesel blend in diesel, starting in early March, as well as by the entry of diesel of Russian origin, which has arrived in the country with more competitive prices compared to competitors.
The transfer of Petrobras price adjustments to end consumers at gas stations is not immediate and depends on a series of factors, such as distribution and resale margins, addition of biofuels and taxes.
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