Petrol dealers bracing for losses, fuel prices expected to drop by over 10 sen

PETALING JAYA: The Petrol Dealers Association of Malaysia (PDAM) is anticipating losses as it expects fuel prices to drop by more than 10 sen on Friday (March 6).

PDAM president Datuk Khairul Annuar Abdul Aziz said that while the cheaper fuel is welcomed by the public, petrol dealers would have to sell fuel at a loss.

He said this was because the previous government administration wanted to limit the price increase quantum to one to two sen weekly, to avoid inflation.

He said it also wanted to hold discussions with the industry to limit downward prices to avoid losses for dealers.

However, he said this policy was now in limbo with the new government.

"We were hit badly when diesel prices fell by 10 sen two revisions back. Tomorrow (March 6) we anticipate more than 10 sen drop for all products," he told The Star on Thursday (March 5).

Khairul Annuar urged Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to either maintain the current pump prices or for prices changes to be limited at two sen until a suitable mechanism that benefited all parties is put in place.

He said during the previous administration, there had been discussions for fuel prices to be set monthly and any price changes to limited to one to two sen.

Also under discussion were a ceiling and floor price for stable fuel prices.

The country practices a weekly fuel pricing mechanism under the APM.

Under this system, fuel prices are announced every Friday and remain in force for one week.

From Feb 29 to March 6, the prices of RON97 petrol is RM2.40 per litre, RON95 petrol at RM2.08 per litre and diesel is RM2.13 per litre.