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Entities comment clarification of Petrobras’ price increase

Entities in the fuel sector spoke out after Petrobras released a note explaining the latest rise in prices. This Friday (18), the state-owned company said that in recent months, the international oil market has faced a high price variation, with Covid-19 largely in the background and now, due to the war in Ukraine.

According to the Petrobras Social Observatory, a civil society organization that researches the impacts of the privatization of the oil company, the main responsible for the increases is the Import Parity Price (PPI) policy, defined by the federal government. The institution also stressed that the war in Ukraine is not responsible for the current scenario.

“Contrary to what the company’s note suggests, it was not the war between Russia and Ukraine that generated priceless prices in Brazil. This episode only worsened the situation, because since the second half of last year, Brazilians have been paying the highest fuel prices in history”, he pointed out.

The president of the Brazilian Association of Fuel Importers (Abicom), Sérgio Araújo, defended that the justification given by Petrobras is “very correct” and that the measure is necessary so that the price gap does not grow.

“This increase was necessary due to the international market and, therefore, the lag cannot be allowed to increase even further. Misaligned prices cannot harm what was agreed with the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade) and with shareholders. We remember that it is not just the Union that is a shareholder today”, explained Araújo.

The president director of the National Association of Petroleum Workers Minority Shareholders of Petrobras (Anapetro), Mário dal Zot, argued that price control is the way for Petrobras to detach itself from parity.

“It demonstrates how important what we’ve been talking about for a long time is. The price control, so necessary, of Petrobras, mainly. Who produces most of the fuel here for Brazil. An asset so essential to the Brazilian population, to Brazilian society as a whole. From the housewife to the transport. And this control is almost mandatory to be done by a nation that values ​​itself as sovereign. Something that has not been happening in Brazil”, said dal Zot.

In the clarification note released this Friday (18) by Petrobras, the state-owned company said that it evaluated the market situation and prices, therefore, it decided not to immediately pass on the volatility, carrying out a daily monitoring of oil prices. And that, just last week, March 11, it decided to readjust its sales prices to distributors of gasoline, diesel and LPG, after prices were observed at consistently high levels.

The readjustments were in the same direction as other fuel suppliers in Brazil that, before Petrobras, had already promoted adjustments in their sales prices, and necessary for the Brazilian market to continue being supplied, without risks of shortages, by the different actors responsible for the service to the different Brazilian regions: distributors, importers and other producers, in addition to Petrobras.

The state-owned company stressed that it seeks a balance with the market and tries to avoid transfers to domestic prices, variations in international quotations and the exchange rate caused by conjunctural events.

Source: CNN Brasil

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