Suspicions remain that the fuel market is not as competitive as it could be, driving prices up for consumers, MPs said on Tuesday.
Parliamentarians again called for “a policy to protect consumers” from high prices at the pump.
Chair of the House commerce and energy committee Kyriacos Hadjiyiannis asserted that in Cyprus there exists an “oligopoly” as well as inadequate checks on competition.
Akel’s Costa Costa mentioned the former auditor-general’s report on the matter, covering the year 2021.
Commenting on this, current auditor-general Andreas Papaconstantinou said that, since that report, the agency has not revisited the matter.
But he did express concern at the company buyouts and mergers, noting that these “exacerbate the competitive environment”.
Papaconstantinou said there are three to four large companies that control the fuel market.
As for the petrol stations, he called them “bit players” lacking the purchasing power to exert pressure for more competitive pricing.
Regarding allegations of ‘super profits’ made by wholesalers/importers, he said that the audited accounts for the year 2022 do not show “excessive profitability” for three of the four companies concerned.
According to Papaconstantinou, Cyprus buys fuel pre-tax relatively expensively compared to the EU average. However, after taxes, the final price is low, again in relative terms.
Official with the commerce ministry Aliki Iordanous said Cyprus imports fuel from a few specific markets, leaving little leeway for different prices.
Regarding the retail side, head of the consumers association Marios Droushiotis said that during the year they issued five statements with accompanying data.
“We showed that something is not right with the fuel trade, but alas despite our efforts we don’t get any answers,” he said.
Head of the petrol station owners association Christodoulos Christodoulou criticised the Commission for the Protection of Competition (CPC) for its stance. He referred to earlier statements by the head of the CPC, when the latter said they had not received any complaints about market competition.
But according to Christodoulou, the petrol stations association did file a complaint to the CPC in March 2023. The CPC rejected the dossier as “incomplete” in December.
“Three times they asked for data, we provided it, and in their final letter to us they said that the complaint is incomplete and so would not be examined.
“We’re talking about 1,200 pages [the complaint] and it was rejected. Why?”
