The Ministry of Industry and Trade has just responded to the proposal of Mr. Giang Chan Tay, Director of Boi Ngoc One Member Co., Ltd. (Tra Vinh), regarding the standard business costs in the basic price of gasoline.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the content related to standard business costs and regulations on discount rates in the basic gasoline price formula has been considered, evaluated and handled during the process of drafting Decree No. 80/2023/ND-CP.

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The Ministry of Industry and Trade does not regulate discount rates for gasoline retail agents (Photo: Nguyen Hue)

According to the reflection of some gasoline retail agents, there are times when there is a shortage of supply, gasoline prices on the market fluctuate unpredictably, gasoline wholesalers and gasoline distributors deliver goods to agents with remuneration (discounts) that are not enough to cover business costs, and even suffer losses when these costs fluctuate and increase. Many gasoline retail agents suggest that the discount level should be clearly specified in the basic gasoline price formula.

Regarding this issue, the Ministry of Industry and Trade cited the provisions of Circular 104/2021/TT-BTC dated November 18, 2021 of the Ministry of Finance stating that the standard cost of petroleum business is a maximum total cost that is only valid for calculating the base price of petroleum according to the provisions of Article 1 of Decree No. 95/2021/ND-CP.

The standard cost of petroleum business is the cost of domestic petroleum circulation (wholesale cost, retail cost at actual temperature) of petroleum traders (including costs for distributors, retail franchisees, general agents, and petroleum agents).

"Thus, the discount rate for all relevant entities participating in the petroleum supply chain has been included in the standard petroleum business cost," said the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade also informed: The discount level is the difference between the purchase price and the selling price and is agreed upon by the enterprises in the contract based on: the development of the distribution system, scale, consumption output; payment method, delivery conditions and the purchase and sale relationship between the enterprises. Discount is also one of the important competitive factors between the main traders of petroleum and petroleum distributors to expand their market share.

Currently, traders participate in the petroleum business chain in the following forms: petroleum wholesale traders, petroleum wholesale producers, petroleum distributors, petroleum general agents, petroleum retail agents, and petroleum retail franchisees.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, if there is a separate discount rate for petrol retail agents, there must be similar regulations for other types of traders in the petrol business chain. Such regulations will limit flexibility as well as limit cost competition among traders.

Decree No. 80/2023/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 95/2021/ND-CP dated November 1, 2021 and Decree No. 83/2014/ND-CP dated September 3, 2014 of the Government on petroleum trading has allowed petroleum retail agents to purchase from multiple sources to create competition in petroleum discounts in the market; adjust the review time; announce reduced costs from 6 months to 3 months; shorten the time for managing petroleum prices from 10 days to 7 days... Therefore, the basic discount issue will be resolved.

Last year, many petroleum retail businesses also continuously sent "rescue" petitions to the Prime Minister and relevant ministries and branches for comments and amendments to Decree 83/2014 and Decree 95/2021 on petroleum trading. In particular, businesses requested the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Industry and Trade to provide specific levels of standard costs and minimum discounts for retail businesses.
The issuance of electronic invoices for each sale of gasoline must be completed by December . The Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Finance and relevant agencies, departments and branches to strengthen inspection of the issuance of electronic invoices for each sale of gasoline.