Economist Andrzej Domański points out that according to data from the European Commission, apart from taxes, petrol in Poland is one of the most expensive in Europe. They show that 95 petrol is more expensive in Poland than in Italy or Germany.
If the price of the product itself, excluding the tax burden, is so high, where does the money go? In Poland, PKN Orlen, controlled by the State Treasury, is responsible for the vast majority of the wholesale market. — The market situation and the VAT reduction were probably used by fuel companies to sharply increase their margins. What drivers should get from the VAT reduction has been partially offset by the higher margins of the oil companies – evaluates Domański, quoted by the next.gazeta.pl portal.
From Business Insider we have described this phenomenon, indicating that it cannot be explained by fluctuations in the currency market. “In October, the zloty strengthened against the euro by 2.9 percent and against the dollar by 4.5 percent. almost completely offsetting the September losses. Indeed, we should expect fuel prices to decline due to the strengthening zloty. And it’s the other way around,” we described.
Orlen’s response
At that time, we also received a reply from PKN Orlen. “Our wholesale and retail prices refer to import parity, which is the rule in EU countries and market economy countries. This means that the price of fuel in Poland in any market economy is not determined by the cost of its production in the Płock or Gdansk refinery, but the opportunity cost, i.e. the price on the ARA market (price in the ports of Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp – ed), plus the cost of delivery of the fuel to Polish market, at the terminal next to the refinery. This market price applies whether the country physically imports fuel or not,” PKN Orlen’s corporate communications office told Business Insider.
– A refinery, for example in Płock, sells fuel at a price that compensates for the price of fuel imported from abroad. In addition to the ARA price, the cost of transporting the fuel to a specific location is also taken into account. And these costs have increased since the war. Previously we imported fuel from the eastern direction. It was an opportunity cost then. All the Baltic countries acted similarly: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, but there are also Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. Now almost everyone imports from another direction, which is definitely more expensive, e.g Poland and the Baltic states are furthest from this other direction. That’s why our costs have gone up the most – said Adam Czyżewski, chief economist of the company.
