Economy 15 April 2024, 9:35am

Price of petrol to be raised further in Hungary

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Hungarian energy group Mol is to raise the wholesale gross list price of petrol on Wednesday (17 April), fuel price tracking site holtankoljak.hu reported on Monday. The price of diesel will remain on hold.

After a fuel price reduction last Friday (HUF -3 per litre for petrol and HUF -5 for diesel), the price of petrol will be raised by HUF 2 per litre on Wednesday, while the price of diesel will not change. Accordingly, we should find the following (average) prices at the pumps:

95-octane petrol: HUF 642 / litre
diesel: HUF 653 / litre

The price of petrol remains 12.5% or HUF 71 higher than at the end of 2023, while the price of diesel will be 10.8% or HUF 62 per litre higher.

On 5 April, the difference between petrol and diesel prices dropped to its lowest (HUF 7) since early September (HUF 8), and after widening to HUF 14 last Wednesday it will narrow to HUF 10 two days from now.

As of five days ago, Hungarian fuel prices were the second-highest in Central and Eastern Europe and only a tad lower than in Austria.

Hungary's Minister of National Economy Márton Nagy told the representatives of Mol and the Hungarian Petroleum Association on Friday that domestic fuel prices were 7-9% higher than the regional average and drew attention to the previous agreement between the parties that fuel prices should be in the middle of the regional ranking.

He clearly warned the industry against disrespecting their commitments under the agreement, stressing that he has a strong expectation that fuel prices should reach the mid-range in the region as soon as possible, in line with the deal.

To this end, Márton Nagy informed the parties that the Central Statistical Office (KSH) will soon set up a public system for monitoring regional fuel prices, which will regularly present price differences and thus serve as a reference point for compliance, monitoring and control of the agreement.

Márton Nagy announced on Monday that he requested a meeting with the fuel market players, saying that "further step would depend on the outcome of this discussion". Now it seems that no new, effective government intervention directly affecting prices and thus market processes is on the agenda.

Cover photo: Getty Images