In the 13th week of decline, average price of gasoline at pumps drops another 1.8%, says ANP

The average price of regular gasoline at the pumps fell for the 13th consecutive week. This time, in the week between the 18th and 24th of September, the drop at gas stations was 1.8%, with the liter of input falling from R$4.97 to R$4.88, the National Agency for Petroleum, Biofuels and Natural Gas (ANP).

Since the historic peak of R$ 7.39, recorded in the penultimate week of June, gasoline has already retreated 34% at gas stations. The recent downward trajectory began on June 24, when the federal government sanctioned the law that limited the ICMS levied on fuels to 17% across the country.

Then, in the months of July, August and September, prices continued to fall due to four consecutive reductions in prices practiced by Petrobras in its refineries, which are gradually passed on to the pumps by retailers.

This week’s drop at pumps is still due to Petrobras’ latest increase in gasoline, which reduced the price to distributors by 7% on September 2.

Before the downward movement of the last three months, however, gasoline had accumulated a rise of 70.6% at gas stations since the beginning of the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government in January 2019. Thus, the government’s efforts to reduce prices on the verge of elections, facilitated by the decline in international oil prices, have not yet compensated for the escalation experienced in the first three and a half years of government.

Diesel

In the week between September 14th and 23rd, the ANP reported, the average price of S10 diesel at Brazilian service stations dropped significantly again, to R$6.82 from the R$6.94 recorded in the previous week, a decrease of 1.7%. This retraction at the tip may be related to the reduction of 5.7%, or R$ 0.30 per liter, in the price practiced by Petrobras in its refineries, on September 20th.

Since the week in which the 17% ICMS ceiling was imposed, on June 24, diesel has been readjusted down at Petrobras refineries on three occasions. At gas stations, like gasoline, this fuel also dropped for 13 weeks in a row and is now accumulating an 11.2% drop in the average price of a liter, which ranged from R$ 7.68 at the beginning of the cycle to the current R$ 6.94.