Surge in Premium Fuel Demand in the Country

Motorists filled up with slightly less fuel than a year earlier at the filling stations of the Hungarian Petroleum Association’s member companies. However, there has been a noticeable change: the turnover of premium fuels has increased, Világga

By: hungarytoday.hu

Jul 16 2024
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Surge in Premium Fuel Demand i

Between the first day of the year and June 30, motorists bought 1,874.9 million liters of petrol and gas oil at the filling stations of the member companies of the Hungarian Petroleum Association (MÁSZ). This fuel volume was 0.9 percent lower than the total for the first half of 2023.

The sales of MÁSZ member companies, representing the major brands, do not cover the entire domestic market, but they are significant. In addition to the so-called ‘colored pumps,’ smaller ‘white filling stations’ (typically cheaper and offer fewer, simpler services) are also important players in the market. “The turnover of our member companies in the first half of the year was essentially the same as a year earlier. We can even hope for an increase on an annual level, hoping that prices will be less hectic,” Ottó Grád, the association’s secretary general, told the economic news portal.

He also pointed to an interesting phenomenon:

sales of premium petrol and premium diesel have increased strongly, with the former up 12.3 percent and the latter 16.4 percent.

With total petrol sales shrinking by 0.3 percent and total diesel sales by 1.2 percent in the first six months of the year, the growing demand for premium products also meant that their weight in total petrol and diesel sales increased. It should be noted that the base was already high.

Photo: Pixabay

Otto Grád hopes that the combined retail sales of MÁSZ members could even expand on an annual basis, based on the fact that there were severe crude oil price fluctuations in the first half of the year, disrupting the market:

Brent oil prices rose to USD 95 per barrel in early April,
and then fell until early July,
then again steeply upwards.

If oil price movements become less hectic in the second half of the year, it will definitely be good for the market,

he said.

Each week, MÁSZ also publishes the average closing prices of its six member companies for base petrol and diesel of the previous week, which exclude prices at filling stations along motorways. The most recent prices in the table, as of July 7, 2024, are HUF 614 (EUR 1.57) for petrol and HUF 625 (EUR 1.60 / 1 EUR=391.67 HUF) for diesel.

According to Holtankoljak.hu, the new wholesale petrol prices, coming into force on Tuesday, will fall by 2 forints per liter, while diesel prices will fall by 3 forints. The current retail average price of petrol at the pumps is 616 forints per liter, while the average price of diesel is 623 forints per liter. However, it is still open how much of the wholesale price reduction will be reflected at the pumps, and it is known that there are large gaps between prices at different filling stations, even for the same owner.

The Expected Turnaround - Fuel Price Cuts Start Immediately