Sergiy Kuyun: “Fuel prices will remain stable in December, and January may surprise”
2 December 16:45
OPINION
In an exclusive commentary to Komersant ukrainskyi
, energy expert Sergiy Kuyun commented on the current situation on the fuel market and expressed his forecasts for the coming period. According to him, no significant changes in fuel prices should be expected in December, but in January, there are options.
Stability in December, different scenarios in January
Mr. Kuyun noted that fuel consumption traditionally decreases in December due to the holidays.
“Half of the month will be a half-day off, so consumption will drop. These are not the conditions under which prices rise,”
– explained the expert and added that during this period, companies will try to offer discounts to stimulate sales.
On the other hand, starting January 1, fuel excise taxes will once again increase in Ukraine. According to the expert, this will definitely be an important factor in the price. However, even taking it into account, we can expect that prices will not rise significantly.
“In January, the tax increase will be up to UAH 1.5 per liter. But, for example, when the new taxes were introduced in September, we did not feel the rise in gasoline and diesel prices, as the purchase price of oil had dropped significantly at that time. And this factor offset the increase due to the excise tax. I do not exclude that the situation will be similar in January,”
– Mr. Kuyun emphasized, but added that it is still difficult to predict global oil prices in January.
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International factors
When asked about the impact of geopolitical instability, in particular the escalation in Syria, Israeli activity, etc., Kuyun noted that it does not have a direct impact on the Ukrainian fuel market.
“This can only have an indirect impact on our market due to the destabilization of prices in the world. But, for example, today the price of oil has fallen by $1. So I think that these events have no impact on the market so far. Not only on us, but also on the global oil market as a whole. Everything is calm,”
– summarized Sergiy Kuyun.
Thus, consumers can count on relative stability of fuel prices until the end of the year, unless there are unforeseen changes in the international market.
