The Romanian government decided to introduce a 7 eurocent excise duty/liter of fuel starting April 1, meaning a price increase of 41 bani/liter, the largest applied ever “overnight”.
“During April, the company posted a slight decline of fuel demand, of between 1% and 3% against the same period of 2013, both on the retail and commercial segment,” say the representatives of Rompetrol, the current KMG International.
Industry sources say that at market level, the decline was much deeper and came shortly after in the last days of March fuel sales had skyrocketed. Moreover, some domestic transport companies decided to fill up in Austria after diesel oil had become more expensive in Romania than in the West.
“The factors behind this consumption decrease were the unfavorable weather conditions, which triggered a road traffic decline, as well as delayed agricultural activities, but also the price increase generated by the introduction of the additional excise starting April 1. We expect the situation to improve in the coming months,” say Rompetrol officials.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)