In another sign of the government’s efforts to further reduce fuel prices for the benefit of consumers, regular gasoline at the pumps fell another 0.4% from R$4.81 to R$4.79 (US$0.90 per liter or US$3.34 per gallon) per liter between Oct. 2 and Oct. 8, according to the National Agency for Petroleum, Biofuels and Natural Gas (ANP).
The decline occurred for the 15th consecutive week.
Since the historic high of R$7.39 in the penultimate week of June, gasoline prices at gas stations have fallen 35%.
The downward trend began on Jun. 24, when the federal government passed a law limiting the nationwide ICMS tax on fuel to 17%.
Prices then fell further in July, August, and September as Petrobras cut costs at its refineries four times in a row, which retailers gradually passed on to gas stations.
Since Petrobras has not lowered gasoline prices recently, prices have been relatively stable.
With Petrobras returning to practice values below the international parity price, which has risen due to the increase in foreign inputs, it is unlikely that the state-owned company will make new downward adjustments in the short term.
Thus, this stability in final prices to consumers leads to consolidation.
DIESEL
This week, the average price of S10 diesel at Brazilian gas stations fell again by 0.9% from R$6.73 the previous week to R$6.67, according to the ANP.
This slight decrease is still related to the reduction of 5.7%, or R$0.30 per liter, in the price practiced by Petrobras in its refineries on Sept. 20.
Since the week in which the 17% cap on ICMS was introduced, on Jun. 24, diesel S10 has been revised downward three times at Petrobras’ refineries.
At gas stations, this fuel, like gasoline, has fallen for 14 consecutive weeks and now registers a 13.1% drop in the average price per liter, from R$7.68 at the beginning of the cycle to R$6.67 currently.