Fuel prices in Poland – May 2023. How much does petrol, diesel and LPG cost?

In mid-April, another wave of discounts on ready-made fuel began on world stock exchanges. A ton of London diesel fell from $800 to just under $650 in early May. In contrast, contracts for New York gasoline were reduced from about $2.90 to about $2.30 per gallon. this means A reduction of approximately 19% in the case of optic neuritis and more than 20% in the case of Pb95, respectively.

It’s just that Polish drivers haven’t fully experienced these changes in their own wallets. Particularly retail prices of petrol, which cost on average in the first week of May, are falling exceptionally slowly 6.61 zlotys / liter – According to BM Reflex data. True, it is 0.5 PLN / liter lower than last week, but at the same time 0.44 PLN / liter higher than the current wholesale price.

The average domestic price of diesel oil, averaged refueled afterwards, fell by another 8 grams per liter 6.33 PLN / liter. This is the lowest average price since the end of February 2022 and is already 1.33 PLN / liter cheaper than it was three months ago. Only during this period wholesale prices fell even more – by up to PLN 1.75 per liter. as a result of The implied retail margin on diesel sales rose to 0.43 PLN/l which is more than double the long-run average. The same applies to gasoline.

The average retail price of motor gas decreased by another PLN 0.2/l, which cost an average of PLN 3.03/l and was the cheapest since the beginning of the year.

Pb95 gasoline is currently 0.9 PLN / liter (1.3%) Cheaper from a year ago. We are refueling with diesel PLN 1.12 / liter (15%) cheaper than at the beginning of May 2022. LPG has become 17.2% cheaper in the last 12 months, which translates to a decrease of PLN 0.63 / liter. Fuel prices in Poland are still very high. Prior to March 22, Pb95 and diesel cost no more than about 6 PLN/litre.

Strong declines in fuel prices in Orleans

The drop in fuel prices on the international stock exchanges was also reflected in the Polish wholesale market. On May 5, PKN Orlen offered Eurosuper95 gasoline at a price of 5018 PLN / m3, which is about 6.17 PLN after adding VAT (excise tax and other quasi-taxes are already included in the net wholesale price). This is zloty 0.14 / liter cheaper than a week ago and PLN 0.55 / liter cheaper than it was three weeks ago. This is the lowest wholesale price since the war broke out in Ukraine. The problem is that at such a wholesale price, gasoline at stations “should not” cost more than 6.40-6.50 PLN per liter.

A similar problem applies to diesel oil, which was offered on Friday at the Blok refinery at a price of PLN 4,793/m3, which is about PLN 5.90/liter total.. This is the lowest wholesale price since January 2022. Just in the past week, diesel fuel for wholesale has become cheaper by 0.15 PLN / liter. However, since the end of January, wholesale diesel prices have fallen by PLN 1.75/litre, and retail prices by only PLN 1.32/litre.

Remember the low VAT

Let’s remember that on January 1, the “old” VAT rates were restored in Poland (which means an increase from 8% to 23%) and the excise tax on fuel. However, due to the “fixed” pricing policy of PKN Orlen (which in December kept artificially high prices in order not to raise them sharply from January 1), distributors could not notice direct The effect of higher taxes.

However, in the long term, retail fuel prices have been revised to 23% VAT and finally We pay more to refuel than if the 8% rate were still in place. Theoretically, with a VAT of 8%, a liter of petrol can now cost as little as PLN 5.70, and diesel – about PLN 5.40.