The Import Parity Prices (PPI) published by the Ursea went down for all liquid fuels in December compared to last month. The PPI is an input for the Executive Branch, which defines each month whether fuel rates should be maintained, raised or lowered. In addition, the government also chose in the last three months to appeal to “extraordinary profits” from Ancap so as not to raise rates according to what the PPI set.
The PPI of naphtha Super 95, including taxes and the mixture with bioethanol, was located in $ 58.5, which compared to $ 60.9 in November means a decrease of 4% and the figure for the gasoil 50s (common) it fell from $ 44.3 to $ 41.5, a reduction of 6.5%.
For its part, the reference prices of Premium gasoline also fell 97 from $ 62.9 to $ 60.4 (7.5%), from gasoil 10s from $ 32.8 to $ 30.4 (7.1%) and the Petroleum liquid gas —The one used in gas cylinders— fell from $ 37.54 to $ 33.29 (11.3%).
It should be noted that, if taxes are deducted, the reductions in the PPI of the Super 95 and Gasoil 50s – the most consumed fuels – are actually of the order of 7.5% and 7.1%, respectively, taking as a reference only international fuel prices. Nevertheless, This reduction would not be enough to cover the non-increase in rates of the last three months (October, November and December), decision of the Executive branch that downplayed the latest PPI increases based on Ancap’s comfortable financial situation.
On November 30, the president of the oil company Alexander Stipanicic assured that Ancap has a “financial back” enough to maintain the price of fuel to the public as has been the case since October. Along the same lines, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Industry, Walter Verri, said in a recent interview with El Observador that he agreed to continue to appeal to Ancap’s extraordinary earnings so as not to adjust the rates to the public.
To complete the overview of the Executive Branch regarding the setting of the rates for January, still It remains to know what will happen with the usual adjustment of the Imesi, taking into account the inflation of 2021. In addition, starting next month the biodiesel quota will fall to be mixed with diesel (from 5% to 2.5%). The current mixture with this biofuel generates an extra cost of $ 1.5 per liter of diesel that Ancap will not be able to transfer to rates from next January. Thus, the entity will have to absorb this extra cost of biodiesel with its own margin.
