High gas prices and concerns
(Baonghean)- After a series of price increases, by February 1, 2012, gas prices had reached 450,000 VND/12kg cylinder. The retail price is currently at 430,000 - 445,000 VND/12kg cylinder (depending on the brand), an increase of nearly 20% compared to the end of 2011.
Surveying the Vinh City market, the main types of gas circulating on the market are: Petrolimex Gas, PetroViet
Gas prices continue to rise, creating a burden for consumers.
Mr. Hoang Van Chuong - owner of Thang Long gas dealer on Nguyen Sy Sach street - Vinh city said: "Although we had previously heard information from suppliers that gas prices would be adjusted to increase, when we received the new price list, even we were surprised because the increase rate was too high." Another reason for the increase in gas prices is that in early 2012, the Government issued a Circular stipulating that the gas import tax would increase again from 2% to 5%.
The high gas price has made consumers worried. Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa (in Tan Tien block - Hung Dung ward) said: "Now the gas price is too high, we plan to choose an induction cooker to replace the gas stove." Mr. Bui Van Hau's family (Hoa Tien hamlet, Hung Loc commune - Vinh city) has to limit gas use, switch to using honeycomb coal stoves, only use gas stoves when necessary.
The high gas price has made consumers start to pay attention to the brand of gas they are using and discover many deceitful business tricks of retailers. According to Mr. Thuy, his family used to use the pink gas tank brand Sell, but recently he saw the gas delivery staff come to exchange the tank with the same pink color so he did not check carefully. It was not until the gas price increased to 450,000 VND/tank that he noticed, it turned out that the gas delivery staff had been giving the tank with the Dai Hai Petro brand, the type of gas sold at the dealers is cheaper than PetroVietnam, Shellgas by 20,000-25,000 VND/tank...
The continuous increase in gas prices is also a factor in illegal gas decanting activities, bringing them to the market at cheaper prices. Thus, the increase in gas prices has invisibly pushed consumers closer to using unsafe gas. This is a reality because recently, fake, poor quality gas has appeared a lot on the market, in which the most prominent is "disguised" as famous gas companies.
On December 22, 2011, at the home of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Ha - residing in Town
Decree 105/2011/ND-CP of the Government (dated November 16, 2011) regulating administrative sanctions on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) trading took effect from January 1, 2012. Accordingly, establishments, units and enterprises trading LPG that do not comply with the regulations will not only be subject to administrative sanctions and additional penalties such as confiscation of exhibits, forced to remedy the consequences... but may also have their business licenses revoked.
However, in reality, this product is not yet strictly managed. Consumers are upset that the current high gas price is only beneficial to businesses, but causes many changes in social life, especially affecting the lives of urban residents.
Ngoc Anh
