Low gasoline discounts, Ministry of Industry and Trade says follow "market rules"

(Dan Tri) - Many petrol retailers have reported losses due to low discounts recently. The Ministry of Industry and Trade stated that businesses need to accept the rules and regulations of the market and proactively plan their business.

Recently, a number of petroleum retail businesses have continued to speak out about the inadequacies in the profit sharing mechanism and unstable discount rates from key businesses.

According to some businesses, gasoline discounts from key businesses have continuously decreased since mid-June since the impact of the conflict between Iran and Israel, at times reaching zero VND. That has made the business activities of retail agents almost unprofitable, even at a loss.

Gas station owner forced to discount

Specifically, when tensions escalated between Iran and Israel last June, world oil prices increased sharply. At that time, discounts at many warehouses were very low, 100-500 VND/liter, and some places even had discounts of 0 VND. Many retailers accepted losses to import goods for sale, but the supply was limited, and some retailers were delayed in delivering goods to key businesses, or even stopped supplying them while waiting for prices to increase.

Representing the group of businesses, Mr. Giang Chan Tay, owner of a retail gasoline system in Vinh Long province, said that currently, retail businesses must buy gasoline at wholesale prices updated according to the market every day, even every hour. Meanwhile, retail prices are adjusted on a fixed cycle every 7 days.

"The current policy is that only key enterprises operate according to market mechanisms. They have the right to proactively adjust wholesale prices and discounts to match world price fluctuations, thereby protecting their profit margins," Mr. Tay said.

The owner of this gasoline retail system affirmed that the retail business is completely passive, forced to sell goods at a fixed price for 7 days, even when the purchase price increases to equal the retail price, meaning the discount is reduced to 0 VND.

During June 20-24, gasoline discounts at many depots were 100-200 VND/liter, and in some places even 0 VND (Photo: Manh Quan).

Responding to this issue, the Department of Domestic Market Management and Development ( Ministry of Industry and Trade ) said that in the past 2 weeks, the world oil market has fluctuated due to conflicts in the Middle East, causing world oil prices to increase, with the risk of supply disruption. Some key traders have reduced the oil discount for agents to 500 VND, or to 100-200 VND.

However, the management agency said that as of June 25, due to positive signals from negotiations in the Middle East, gasoline prices have decreased, the risk of supply shortage has also decreased, so the discounts of key enterprises have also increased again.

This Department cited the gasoline discounts of some key enterprises on June 30 as follows: Phuc Lam Company 2,600 VND/liter; Military Petroleum Corporation 1,800-2,300 VND/liter (depending on the region); Vietnam Oil Corporation 2,300-2,400 VND/liter; Saigon Petro 1,400-1,600 VND/liter; Petrolimex 1,700-1,900 VND depending on the product.

"High or low discount depends on business relationship"

The Department believes that when participating in business in the market, agents and retail stores of gasoline must accept the rules of the market and be subject to market regulations including supply, demand, and prices. Therefore, agents and retail stores must have their own business plans to respond when the market fluctuates.

This agency gives an example, when world oil prices are low and supply is abundant, key and distribution enterprises can offer high discounts to retailers. But when world oil prices increase or are forecast to increase, and supply becomes scarcer, retailers may have to accept low discounts, or even negative discounts, but still have to import goods to maintain business operations, in return for enjoying high discounts.

The discount level in the petroleum business is the discount level of the petroleum selling enterprise to the petroleum buying enterprise compared to the retail price of petroleum. The discount level is flexibly adjusted by the petroleum selling enterprises, reflecting the market, depending on the fluctuations of supply and demand, prices in the world and domestic markets.

The management agency believes that high or low discounts depend on business relationships and business contracts between businesses (Photo: Manh Quan).

The management agency affirmed that the current legal regulations on petroleum trading in Vietnam do not stipulate discount rates. The State only creates the environment, manages, operates and regulates the ceiling price of retail petroleum products to protect the interests of consumers and manage the macro economy, and does not regulate discount rates in petroleum trading of enterprises.

The discount is high or low depending on the business relationship of the enterprise, the business contract between the enterprises. Decree 80/2023 and Decree 83/2014 on petroleum business have allowed petroleum retail agents to sign contracts to act as agents for 3 main traders or petroleum distributors, which has also opened up more options for petroleum retail agents in terms of supply sources.

The Department of Domestic Market Management and Development believes that retail petrol dealers will choose traders to supply their goods with reasonable discounts. Current regulations on petrol trading are gradually following the market mechanism and moving towards applying petrol prices completely according to the market mechanism.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/kinh-doanh/chiet-khau-xang-dau-thap-bo-cong-thuong-noi-theo-quy-luat-thi-truong-20250701173915933.htm