Ukraine: Antimonopoly Body Calls for Fuel Retail Price Reduction

Oleksandr Melnychenko, the acting head of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMC) has called on oil market participants to decrease fuel prices to an economically grounded level.  "Due to the fact that the AMC decided to open a case and is now investigating a groundless increase in petrol and diesel fuel prices in January both in retail and wholesale segments, they [the market participants] should meet the committee's requirement and decrease prices to an economically grounded level," Melnychenko said at a press conference on Tuesday.

He said that if evidence of a groundless increase in fuel prices and anti-competitive collusion were to be found, every day of delay in fulfilling the committee's requirements would increase the size of the fines on the operators. Melnychenko said that according to data from a market study, in January wholesale prices for high-octane petrol grew by 9.1%, those for low-octane petrol were up by 10.5%, diesel fuel prices rose by 6.2%, and retail prices grew by 11%, 12% and 14% respectively. He said that petrol and diesel fuel prices on the European markets over the period rose only by 7-8%.

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