By: Islam El-Saqqa
Petroleum product prices in Vietnam have seen a notable disparity among various distribution companies following the Ministry of Industry and Trade's announcement of new price adjustments on October 22. The updates showed a sharp decline in gasoline prices, contrasted by an increase in the prices of other petroleum products such as diesel and mazut.
Petroleum product price updates
According to the announced data, the price of E5RON92 gasoline recorded a decrease to 25,361 VND per liter, a reduction of 1,610 VND from the previous price. The price of E10RON95-III gasoline also fell to 25,213 VND per liter. Conversely, prices for 0.05S diesel rose to 29,550 VND per liter, while 180CST 3.5S mazut recorded an increase to 23,373 VND per kilogram.
Distribution companies' varying strategies
Different companies showed varied responses to these adjustments, as some companies preferred to offer additional discounts to ease the burden on consumers. Petrolimex announced a reduction in the prices of all its petroleum products by 300 VND per liter, while PVOil lowered its prices by 350 VND per liter.
For its part, the Military Petroleum Corporation (Mipecorp) applied additional discounts of 300 VND per liter on gasoline and diesel products. As for Saigon Petro, it adopted retail prices close to the levels set by the state, with E5RON92 gasoline recording approximately 25,360 VND per liter.
Supporting consumer and production costs
Current regulations allow wholesalers and distributors to sell products at prices lower than the base prices announced by the state, which is what many companies are doing to share costs with customers. Recent trends indicated that these proactive discounts by distributors contribute directly to supporting fuel buyers and helping production and business units reduce operating costs.
