Cooking gas: distributors are notified about price – 06/07/2023 – Market

Senacon (National Consumer Secretariat) notified cooking gas cylinder distributors to explain why they did not pass on the reduction in cooking gas prices to the consumer. Despite the 47% cut in refineries, cylinders have dropped by 13% since March 2022.

The request was sent to Sindigás (National Union of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Distributors) this Tuesday (6) and the entity will have 48 hours to respond.

The measure was taken after a survey released by the Sheet show that the price of gas cylinders has dropped much less than other fuels since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, even after reductions in the value of fuels carried out by Petrobras.

According to data compiled by Ineep (Institute for Strategic Studies on Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels), the average price of a 13-kilogram cylinder fell 12.7% between March 2022 (when it was at R$ 119.58, in value corrected by the IPCA) and last week (when it was at R$ 104.37).

In the same period, gasoline dropped by 32% and diesel dropped by 34%. The prices of the three products suffered several reductions in refineries in recent months, but the transfer did not reach the consumer in the same way.

Senacon wants Sindigás to clarify the reason for the damming of discounts in the case of cooking gas. “For the poorest population, the extortionate price of cooking gas is very harmful. There are people who, not being able to pay for gas, are using firewood, putting their lives and their families’ lives at risk. We cannot accept that the reduction hasn’t reached people’s homes,” said national consumer secretary Wadih Damous.

Gas price exceeds half of the budget of the poorest families

Survey of Sheet shows that the cost of the product can be equivalent to more than half of the budget of vulnerable families, included among the poorest 10% of the Brazilian population, in states such as Pará, Bahia, Piauí and Maranhão.

In other states, such as Ceará, Amazonas and Sergipe, the average price of a gas cylinder represents more than 40% of the income of the poorest 10%.

Among the capitals, fuel exceeds 20% of the budget of vulnerable families in Manaus (AM), Fortaleza (CE), Teresina (PI), Salvador (BA), São Luís (MA) and Belém (PA).

Target of constant reductions in recent months, the gas cylinder did not have this drop reflected for the consumer. At Petrobras refineries, the sale value fell 47.9% from the peak of R$ 61.65 per cylinder reached in March 2022. There were five reductions in the period, the last of them on May 17, from 21.6 %, or BRL 8.97 per cylinder.

When announcing the reduction, Petrobras said it expected the average price of the product to reach R$ 99.87. Two weeks later, according to the ANP (National Agency for Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels), the average sale price was R$ 104.37.

Ineep researcher Carla Ferreira points out that ANP indicators indicate that there was appropriation of the drop in refineries by distributors and resellers of cooking gas.

The most recent data from the agency, referring to January, show that fuel represented 40% of the final price of cylinders, while industry margins represented 48%. In March 2022, margins represented 37%, against 51% for the cost of gas.

“The reduction in refineries is not being passed on, which may mean that the sector is taking advantage of this moment to recover margins”, she says. In January 2020, before the pandemic, margins represented 43% of the final cost.

The sector says it does not comment on price developments. In a note distributed shortly after the announcement of Petrobras’ last reduction, the association that brings together resellers complained that distributors have not passed on all the cuts, “leaving resellers in a very uncomfortable situation”.

But he argued that prices are free in the country, “the segment can price products and services according to the operating costs of each company”.