Gas station drama
On Monday, MOL gas stations uniformly reduced their fuel prices by 10 forints per liter. The next day, the Minister of Economic Affairs welcomed this “giving in” by the industry.
The price change in the MOL network occurred independently of the wholesale prices, which are determined by the MOL Group as standard with effect from Wednesday or Friday. In plain language, this step is at the expense of the trading margin. The Association of Independent Gas Stations (FBSZ) also expressed its displeasure because the small tenants have to follow the MOL dictate if they do not want to lose customers. Since their trading margin is only around 5 forints per liter, this campaign is already pushing them into the red.
In any case, Economics Minister Márton Nagy welcomed the “voluntary” reduction in fuel prices. “Apparently everyone has now understood what the government wants,” he said at another press conference in response to questions from journalists. It is better to cooperate than to resist.
At the same time, Nagy was open to the industry’s critical demand that only the gas station prices of neighboring countries be calculated when determining the “regional average price”. In this sense, the KSH statistics office would no longer include the prices for Poland, the Czech Republic and, above all, Bulgaria in the assessment.
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