VINACHEM

The ministries of Finance and Industry and Trade yesterday asked retailers to cut price of all kinds of fuel except petrol.

Accordingly, the diesel price was cut by VND90 per litre to VND22,510 (US$1.07) while that of mazut and kerosene was reduced by VND100 and VND130 per litre to VND18,660 ($0.88) and VND18,360 ($0.87) respectively.

The price of petrol remained unchanged at VND24,690 ($1.17) per litre.

The ministries also wanted the use of the price stabilisation fund for petroleum products to be minimised. The fund, built on contributions from the firms' selling prices, is mostly used to offset losses during delays to adjust local prices after international prices increase.

Accordingly, the payback on petrol was reduced from VND200 to VND50 per litre, while that on diesel, kerosene, and mazut remained unchanged at zero dong per litre.

The cut in payback on petrol prices was based on the estimation that traders were making a profit of nearly VND200 per litre on petrol at current prices.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the petrol price stabilisation fund stood at VND840 billion ($39 million) at the end of the first quarter of this year.

It noted that the fund balance at the end of this quarter of Viet Nam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) and the Military Petroleum Corporation was VND649.3 billion ($30.9 million) and VND154 billion ($7.3 million) respectively.

The HCM City Oil and Gas Company and Thanh Le import-export company have a fund balance of VND100 billion ($4.7 million) and VND109 billion ($4.8 million) respectively, while Hai Ha Waterway Transportation Company has VND26 billion ($1.23 million).