09/19/2020 - 9:31
Clarín.com
Economy
The different oil companies that play in the Argentine market began to adjust their prices after the
increase ordered in the early hours of Saturday by YPF
- state-owned and the main company in the market - which raises fuel prices in the metropolitan area by almost 5% from Buenos Aires and about 3.5% in the rest of the country.
Meanwhile, the owners of the service stations
described the increase as "necessary"
and assured that - according to business calculations -
another adjustment is needed before the end of the year
to "restore profitability" for the entire sector.
"The increase
took us a bit of surprise
, despite the fact that during the week statements were made by the CEO of YPF regarding some basic points that he had been considering for the development of the company. Among them was a
progressive increase in price
, although not it was thought that it would be so fast, "said Carlos Gold, vice president of the Chamber of Commerce and Hydrocarbons Entities (CECHA), which
groups together the owners of service stations
.
This is the
second rise in fuel prices in a month
.
The previous one, which reached the pumps on August 19, raised the values of gasoline by 4.5% in the national average,
after eight months of freezing
.
"It was something that the sector had been needing in the face of a general inflationary context; it had become very difficult to rebuild profitability in the face of the increase in inputs and the economy," Gold acknowledged in an interview with the program
"Very early Saturday"
, which is broadcast by Radio Miter.
According to Gold, "there is still an
average increase of 4.5%
to bring import parity, as this type of adjustment is called in technical jargon," which rearranges local prices to international crude oil values.
And although he clarified that "it is not us (for the service stations) who define this price movement, that small increase that is still missing
should take place before the end of the year
."
On Friday night, YPF announced an
increase of almost 5%
in fuel prices in the City and Greater Buenos Aires, while the increase
reaches an average 3.5% in the rest of the country
.
In a statement, the state oil company -which handles more than 50% of the local market- stated that "the objective of this increase is to
sustain the company's production activity
taking into account
the particularities of the country's macroeconomic context
."
"This increase is in line with the decision to restore historical asymmetries at the federal level, closing gaps between the Federal Capital and the interior of the country," he explained about the differences in the increases.
The previous rise ordered by YPF
had been exactly one month ago
, on Wednesday, August 19, when it
announced a 4.5% rise in the national average
, after eight months of freezing prices.