site.bta BICA, Transport Sector Want Anti-trust Commission to Pronounce on Possible Cartel Agreement on Fuel Prices

BICA, Transport Sector Want Anti-trust Commission to Pronounce on Possible Cartel Agreement on Fuel Prices

Sofia, January 31 (BTA) - The Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association (BICA), the Association for Motorists' Training in Bulgaria and the Sectoral Union for Enterprise in Transport have called on the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) to pronounce quickly and clearly on the possible existence of a cartel agreement on fuel prices in Bulgaria.

The organizations call on the CPC to expedite the preparation of a sectoral analysis of the fuel market which started on June 30, 2015.

The organizations claim that Bulgaria has some of the highest fuel prices before taxes and excise duties, although it has some of the EU's lowest production costs, while the raw materials are bought at commodity exchange prices, which are the same for all. "We are talking about prices of 0.465 euro per litre of petrol and 0.473 euro per litre of diesel. Only Spain, Denmark and Malta have higher petrol prices, and only Ireland, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Malta have higher diesel prices," the organizations say.

At the same time, at 0.18 per cent, Bulgaria has the narrowest margin between the lowest and the highest price of petrol, diesel and LPG among more than 100 countries. In Europe, Greece has the widest margin of 3.46 per cent, and France, Belgium, Portugal, Estonia, Finland and Switzerland have a margin of 2.5 per cent. The letter is based on the petrol prices paid between January 19, 2015 and January 25, 2016.