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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
⁉️ “Prices will be as high as the gas stations want them to be”: experts are already practically trolling the AMCU’s “control”
It seems the Ukrainian Anti-Monopoly Committee and its head Pavlo Kyrylenko are already being hinted at quite transparently about what “control” over the fuel market really looks like…
Energy expert Hennadiy Ryabtsev said that fuel prices in Ukraine could indeed reach both 120 and 130 UAH per liter. He explains part of the future increase, in particular, by the rise in excise taxes on gasoline, diesel and liquefied gas starting from 1 January.
But then a much more interesting thesis was voiced
“And as much as the operators want, because, as I say, there is no control on this market,” Ryabtsev said.
According to him, the only thing that can really restrain the operators is the consumers themselves: if further price increases lead to a sharp drop in demand and gas station networks feel it in their sales, then the pace of price growth may slow down.
And here one can’t help but recall the existence of the Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine, which should be monitoring competition in this market
Earlier this spring, after the rapid rise in fuel prices, the AMCU pompously took up the situation. On 9 March the Committee opened a case on signs of possible anti-competitive coordinated actions by operators during the rise in retail prices for diesel and A-95 gasoline. The AMCU itself reported that it tracks the market situation daily and collects and analyzes evidence. In April Pavlo Kyrylenko even came to the Verkhovna Rada and told deputies about measures of control and the investigation of the situation with oil product prices.
Then the AMCU recommended that the largest gas station chains set prices according to objective economic factors. So there were plenty of statements, controls, monitoring, meetings and recommendations… However, there is no public final decision yet regarding possible coordinated actions in raising retail prices. Moreover, the AMCU’s case page states that its consideration period may be up to three years.
So against this background Ryabtsev’s words that prices can rise “as much as the operators want” and that “there is no control at all” sound to the AMCU almost like a ready-made sarcastic summary of the whole story.
Especially considering that just yesterday I wrote about 👉 how Ukrainians are already being made to accept a new “normal” price for fuel.
Fuel expert and founder of the Prime group of companies Dmytro Lioushkin forecasted diesel at 115–120 UAH per liter, calling this still a fairly optimistic scenario, and even allowed for 140–145 UAH. One of the arguments was European prices: Lioushkin said that €2,4 per liter is supposedly already the lowest diesel price in Europe. Although actual data show a completely different picture: in a number of EU countries diesel is noticeably cheaper. In other words, Ukrainians are effectively being shown the logic: “it’s already expensive in Europe, it’s still cheap here, so get ready to catch up.”
And now another expert adds one more detail: how much prices will rise, he says, will depend on HOW MUCH THE MARKET OPERATORS THEMSELVES WANT IT.
And somewhere between forecasts of 120–145 UAH, stories about the so-called “cheapest €2,4 in Europe” and claims about the absence of real control, the Anti-Monopoly Committee should be located.
📌 At least on paper it’s definitely there.
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