Martin Bidegaray
02/01/2021 21:04
Clarín.com
Economy
Updated 02/01/2021 21:04
In less than six months, fuel prices
rose 9 times
.
YPF, the main oil company in the market, yesterday increased the amounts of gasoline by
1% and diesel by 1.9%.
As fuels already rose at the beginning of the year, and in the middle of the month, with this recent increase they
accumulate a remarking of 10% so far in 2021 and 15% in less than 70 days.
This update has to do with a decision by the Ministry of Energy, referring to
prices for more quantities of biodiesel and bioethanol
that must be included as a mixture in fuels.
In Buenos Aires, YPF's liter of super gasoline is shipped at $ 73.60, which represents an increase of 37.6% compared to the $ 53.47 that this product was worth in August 2020, before the first increase .
In diesel, the accumulated rise reached 38.5%.
The amounts reflected are those of Buenos Aires.
In some places in the interior they can be up to 10% higher.
Beyond the increases that may occur this month,
in March there will be another additional recomposition
, due to another adjustment in the "biofuels" component of naphtha and diesel.
In that case, it will be the 10th increase.
YPF kept fuel prices frozen -there was a mini correction of 13 cents- from December 2019 to August 2020. Guillermo Nielsen, who will step down as president of the company, was in favor of a recomposition as soon as he took office, but President Alberto Fernández
denied it.
Since mid-August, when the first adjustment of this management was authorized,
fuels have already risen between 37% and 38% in Buenos Aires.
In the successive increases are combined recomposition of margins for the company's business, tax increases and adjustments for biofuels.
In the specific case of the increase in February, the biodiesel component for diesel increased, the dosage rose from 5% to 6.7%, with an increase for oil companies of 12.4% in that cost.
This implies that diesel rose from $ 66.90 to $ 69.20, always in relation to the YPF stations in Buenos Aires.
YPF usually has the lowest prices and Buenos Aires is - outside of Patagonia - the region where loading the tank is cheaper in relation to the rest of the country.
After the recent February adjustment, premium gasoline went from $ 83.10 to $ 84.70.
And “premium” diesel, from $ 78.80 to $ 81.40, at the YPF stations in Buenos Aires.
In the ethanol that the oil companies buy, which is used to cut gasoline,
the increase is 9.6%.
The dosage is kept at 12%.
Gasoline rises from $ 71.90 to $ 73.90.
A liter of gasoline was at $ 67.10 at the end of December.
Now pass the $ 73.60.
The diesel fuel was at $ 62.70, but in February pumps it reached $ 69.20.
15 days ago, YPF also raised fuels by 3.5%.
The cause was an update in the taxes paid on fuels, plus an improvement in the profit margins of the oil companies.
YPF always leads the increases, which are then followed by its competitors, Shell (operated by Raizen), Axion and Puma.
In the increase of 15 days ago, the increase of 1.4% in the case of diesel and 2% for gasoline was due to taxes, while the rest was the
recomposition of margins delayed
by December inflation, and therefore the increase is higher.
The replacement of Guillermo Nielsen by Pablo González, a former deputy governor of Santa Cruz, raised concerns among energy analysts - and YPF's competitors - that the company will use fuel prices as an anchor to fight inflation.
This implied not recognizing the devaluation of the peso against the dollar, or the price of a barrel of Brent oil, the benchmark for Argentina, which is also expressed in dollars.
In their annual report, the service stations detailed that
their dispatches are 20% below the pre-pandemic situation.
This is felt more in gasoline than in diesel, used in the field and in transportation.