Reporting to the Department of Industry and Trade of HCMC, representatives of petroleum wholesalers, such as Petrolimex Saigon and Saigon Petro, all affirmed that over the past time, they had tried their best to meet market demand. However, there were times they had to endure a loss of VND5,000-VND6,000 per liter. Therefore, these enterprises were forced to cut the discount from the distribution stage to sustain their business activities to ensure that affiliated petrol station systems were not closed.
Faced with that difficulty, enterprises suggested the management agency recalculate the petrol price structure because, with the current pricing method, focal enterprises did not have enough operating expenses, so they could not offer a high discount to agents.
Previously, 24 petroleum retailers had called for help as the current discount rate is only VND100-VND200 per liter, even zero Vietnamese dong sometimes, so it's not enough to maintain the operation. Meanwhile, the costs of premises, transportation, warehousing, staff, electricity, and water have caused fuel retailers to suffer heavier losses when they sell more petrol products.
Talking to petroleum enterprises, a representative of the Department of Industry and Trade of HCMC said that the department understands the difficulties over the past time, especially due to the geopolitical fluctuations in the world, causing the supply and prices of petrol products to be unstable. However, enterprises have made efforts to ensure petroleum supply to the market, preventing it from breaking or causing disturbances. Currently, in the field of petroleum management, most of the authority belongs to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, so the Department of Industry and Trade of HCMC will listen to and record all opinions and recommendations of enterprises, then send them to the relevant authorities for consideration and settlement.
* On the afternoon of September 15, Mr. Truong Van Ba, Director of the Market Surveillance Department of HCMC, said that market surveillance teams still closely monitor and supervise petroleum trading activities in the city, and at the same time, constantly report to the General Department of Market Surveillance under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Accordingly, the market surveillance teams are responsible for grasping the operation situation of the petrol stations. If detecting signs of violations, such as stopping sales, halting business for no reason, hoarding goods, and selling petrol at a limited volume, they will promptly inspect to determine the cause and handle them according to regulations.
