GERMANY COMPETITION AUTHORITY PUBLISHED ANNUAL MONITORING REPORT FOR FUEL PRICES
15/05/2020
The German competition authority Bundeskartellamt has published its 2019 annual report on the work of its Market Transparency Unit for Fuels. Bundeskartellamt announced that the fuel trade is constantly being monitored and it has conducted its examination by collecting fuel prices from more than 14,000 gas stations across Germany. The report also stated that the developments over the past few months were taken into account due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The prominent point in the report is that there are significant differences in the fuel prices charged by the various petrol stations, and prices change considerably and several times in the course of the day.
The results reached in the said report can be summarized as follows:
- At one and the same petrol station, average price differences of approx. 10 cents/litre can be observed every day. A comparison of all petrol stations in one town shows that there are even average price differences of up to approx. 20 cents/litre every day.
- The average price differences between towns and rural areas are relatively low. Off-motorway service areas often charge somewhat higher prices (+2-4 cents/litre). Motorists refuelling at a motorway station must expect considerably higher prices (+20-25 cents/litre)
- Fuel prices are high in the morning and low in the evening. Stations open during the night keep their prices high during the night.
- The relative price position of the different petrol stations compared with each other is quite stable. "cheap" petrol stations mostly remained relatively cheap. "Expensive" petrol stations mostly stayed relatively expensive.
- There are only relatively minor price differences between the different regions in Germany. Apart from a few more expensive or cheaper regions, the annual average price difference amounts to only approximately 5 cents/litre. In spring/summer 2019, relatively high fuel prices could be observed in eastern Germany. Additionally, voices from the oil sector reported major disruptions in the supply of oil via the Druzhba pipeline caused by contaminated crude oil.
- Again in 2019, fuel prices were not noticeably increased around Easter and Whitsunday.
(Bundeskartellamt – 07.05.2020)
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