Petrobras abandons PPI in fuel prices – 05/16/2023 – Market

Petrobras will disclose its new fuel price policy this Tuesday (16) and the PPI (import parity) will not be the basis of the criteria for the company to carry out readjustments in gasoline and diesel, two sources with knowledge of the subject.

One of the sources said that the new policy could be disclosed at “any time” and highlighted that the international price will continue to be “an important reference”, but not “the import parity”.

The information is in line with information released by CNN Brasil, which reported on Monday night (15) that Petrobras should end the price policy based on import parity, citing two sources with knowledge of the matter. The broadcaster also said that a statement with the information will be released on Tuesday.

On Sunday (14), Petrobras announced in a statement that it was internally discussing changes to its pricing policies for diesel and gasoline. Last week, in a results conference call, the company’s management said that there would be an announcement this week on the subject.

The source said that the new price policy should provide for more stability and spacing between readjustments.

“Petrobras has operational conditions that allow it to dampen speculative or occasional oscillations during periods without affecting its profitability on average,” said one of the sources, on condition of anonymity.

Asked about the periodicity of the readjustments, the source avoided going into details, but said that the objective is “to mitigate volatility as much as possible”.

Asked if the PPI will end, the source said that the international parity will not be the only and obligatory reference.

“Because a company’s price cannot be set by forcing itself to charge its competitor’s price, which has worse conditions than its own”, he continued, in line with what the company’s new management has stated it will do.

Sought by Reuters, Petrobras did not respond until the publication of this text.