PETROLEUM products marketers have hinted at another pump price hike for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also called petrol.
This is coming as black marketers now sell the product for between N300 and N400 a litre in major cities like Abuja, Calabar and Aba.
The Depots and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) says access to dollars at the official investors and exporters (I&E) window has been a great challenge.
President of Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), Dr. Prince Billy Harry, gave the warning yesterday.
Harry said system inefficiency and scarcity of foreign exchange are about to create dysfunctional market operations that would bring about price distortion beyond the control of marketers.
The chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Chinedu Okoronkwo, said the depot operators unilaterally hiked ex-depot price of products, particularly petrol.
“We independent marketers source products from these depots and they have refused to sell at regulated government prices. What you observe in Lagos is simply a situation where marketers pay higher and then adjust their pump to recover cost and retain customers.
“They are not concerned about profit but to sustain their businesses until the government takes a firm stand on deregulating the market,” said Okoronkwo.
Harry, on his part said, with the exchange rate above N800 to a dollar, the public should expect another round of hike in pump price of petrol except exchange rate is stabilised.
According to him, landing cost of petrol to outlets is within the region of N184 to N189 per litre.
“We went round Abuja yesterday and we found out that a litre of petrol in the black market sells for between N350 and N400. On the other hand our retail outlets sell between N190 to N200 a litre depending on source of procurement.
“We monitored the situation in Calabar, Aba and Port Harcourt as well as Lagos. What we are doing presently is to ensure our members maintain a reasonable price band. No one appears to be challenging the system but I want to warn that we may experience another round of price hike as we approach the festive season, ” he said.
