(3 Minutes Read)
There has been a slight drop in average pump prices, attributed partly to the direct importation of fuel products yielding reduced logistics costs. But the change is pegged to other factors, mainly the appreciation of the Ugandan shilling against the US dollar, and the lower global price of crude.
Two months after the Uganda National Oil Company (Unoc) took over as the sole importer and supplier of petroleum products into the country, pump prices remained high, signalling more problems associated with the supply lines.
There has been a slight drop in average pump prices, attributed partly to the direct importation of fuel products yielding reduced logistics costs. But the change is pegged to other factors, mainly the appreciation of the Ugandan shilling against the US dollar, and the lower global price of crude.
According to Trading Economics, Brent crude on Thursday sold at USD 77.6 before rebounding past USD 80 a barrel but is expected to trade at USD 77.42 by the end of this quarter, down from USD 85 in June, when Unoc initially submitted orders for the first consignment of its fuel imports.
Despite this, Uganda continues to feel pump price headaches as the dominant firms in the market are still comfortably perched above the government’s desired upper limit of Ush5,000 (USD 1.34) for a litre of petrol or diesel, in a competitive downstream market.
This week, some executives of the seven top oil dealers that together control 53 per cent of Uganda’s retail market, said that, to some extent, the Unoc monopoly regime is translating into lower prices due to different factors.
Read Also:
https://trendsnafrica.com/uganda-on-exploration-spree-for-hydrocarbon/
The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (Ubos) consumer price index shows that the average price for petrol in June was Ush5,460 (USD 1.48) compared with the current Ush5,122 (USD 1.39) per litre, while the price of diesel, on average, was Ush4,986 (UD 1.35), which has now dropped to Ush4,831 (USD 1.31).
