Fuel prices to remain steady

July 11, 2011 | 14:32

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The Ministry of Finance has decided not to raise import duties on petroleum products in the face of "complicated" fluctuations in the global market.

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The decision, made after a meeting with the Ministry of Industry and Trade July 8, will maintain current tax rate as well as selling prices of petrol, diesel oil and kerosene.

Earlier, on March 29, the two ministries had devised a framework based on which petroleum trading activities in the country would be regulated in line with the market mechanism.

Under this arrangement, domestic petroleum prices would be adjusted according to fluctuations in world prices. However, in recent times, prices of petroleum products in the world market have seen changes not linked to crude oil prices.

Sometimes, the price of petroleum products, including that of petrol and diesel, remained unchanged even after crude oil prices fell, while that of mazut rate increased.

For instance, between June 10 to July 7, crude oil prices fell by 4.95 per cent while petrol and diesel went down by just 0.96 per cent and 0.52 per cent respectively while that of kerosene went down by 0.84 per cent. Mazut prices, meanwhile, rose by 0.91 per cent.

The finance ministry also said that compared with the petroleum prices in neighbouring countries, Vietnamese petrol and diesel prices were lower by VND5,225 and VND5,281 (about $0.25) per litre, respectively.

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