The Association of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises of Vietnam (VINASME) has just sent a document to Minister of Industry and Commerce Nguyen Hong Dien asking for a conference to be organized to resolve difficulties for petroleum retail companies.

According to VINASME, the country currently has about 17,000 gas stations, of which about 13,000 are small and medium-sized gasoline and oil dealers operating nationwide to ensure the supply of gasoline and oil for socio-economic activities.

At the same time creating jobs and stable income for thousands of employees who make many contributions to the state budget.

Against the background that in 2022 the world oil market will have many unpredictable fluctuations, prices will rise and fall with large amplitudes in a very short period of time, which will adversely affect the petroleum business in general.

In order to stabilize gasoline prices at the highest possible level, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Finance have used many effective tools to manage the domestic oil market. As a result, many positive results have been achieved, which make an important contribution to controlling inflation and maintaining macroeconomic stability.

Recently, however, many retail companies have reported that they are facing many difficulties in doing business.

In particular, the focus company imposes cost-sharing business norms, and retail discounts are often low and very low. There are even longer zero discount times at the terminal. Retail businesses must offset the cost of transportation from warehouse to point of sale, resulting in ongoing business disruption.

Even so, retail businesses must keep working to retain customers and survive. In many cases, their operating license is threatened because the focus company does not have enough oil for sale.

Therefore, petroleum retail companies are proposing to the Ministry of Industry and Trade to direct key companies and distributors to share retail expenses according to the ratio in the current base price formula. Current documents do not specify retail costs, which are payable directly to resellers, but are included in total cost of distribution.

Request the Department of Industry and Trade and the Department of Treasury to consider calculating sufficient business expenditures for the petroleum supply chain from the well generation stage of the focus company to the retail stage of the agents.

As for the retail cost of gasoline and oil, it is recommended to separate and determine the proportion of retail cost in the total cost in order to facilitate the application and implementation of supporting activities for small and medium-sized enterprises.

For petrol and oil retail companies, the non-profit retail cost today ranges from 700 to 800 VND/1 liter. This cost level varies depending on performance and other business conditions, such as B. performance, geographic location in remote and isolated areas.

Therefore, companies propose that the minimum selling cost at petrol and petroleum dealers in the current base price formula (provided that the delivery point at the gas station is at the point of sale) must be around 1,200-1400 VND / 1 liter).

In addition, in the current situation, it is necessary to implement the time to manage gasoline prices according to the regulations on the 1st, 11th and 21st of each month. In the immediate future, temporarily no application of the delay to the next business day for operating hours that coincide with public holidays or public holidays, as this will cause a delay that will affect the market and the efficiency of gasoline market operations.

In addition, the regulation that the general and retail agent of petroleum and petroleum can only purchase goods from one source is no longer appropriate to the conditions and development of the current petroleum business market.

If you feel that this regulation is no longer appropriate to protect consumer interests. Because petroleum currently produced or imported in Vietnam must conform to international standards and Vietnamese standards controlled with a very strict procedure based on new scientific and technical advances.

At the same time, there is a need to review and reduce some management procedures and sub-license, causing problems for businesses and inappropriate regulations. Current regulations have too many intermediaries in the petroleum distribution chain, resulting in many administrative procedures that complicate business and increase compliance costs.

Based on the above recommendations, VINASME believes that companies need the Ministry of Industry and Commerce to study and organize a conference, to listen to the opinions of retail companies, to get more practical information, to address regulations and Decisions must be taken into account according to existing social conditions.