Just 100 of 17,000 gas stations shuttered: trade ministry downplays gasoline shortage

The Ministry of Industry and Trade asserted Monday that a shortage of gasoline has been recorded at only 100 out of the country’s 17,000 stations, and inventories can basically meet domestic demand.

According to the ministry, a number of gasoline retail businesses have applied to close or suspend operations, mainly in localities like Ho Chi Minh City, An Giang and Binh Phuoc provinces in the south and Dak Lak province in the Central Highlands.

However, only a few more than 100 of 17,000 gasoline stations in the country shut down, it said.

The main reason for the shut down is that since the end of 2021, the cost of gasoline trading has sharply increased, so a number of traders that do not have enough financial resources have only managed to maintain minimum regulated supply and reserves.

Many businesses have sharply reduced sales discounts to limit the volume of gasoline sold to resellers, leading to losses for the latter.

The recent flood and storm situation also affected the delivery of goods, leading to disruptions and supply shortages in some localities.

But the trade ministry said that although there was a shortage of supply at some gasoline stations, inventories of enterprises basically meet domestic demand, and their supply is continuously supplemented by imported and domestic sources.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Market Management Department, 121 stations in the city or about 20% lacked gasoline, mainly in suburban districts like Binh Chanh (eight stations), Binh Tan (15), and Thu Duc city (21). They are small scale operators for the most part, it noted.

A group of 36 gasoline trading enterprises in HCMC had earlier petiitoned the Prime Minister, saying the ministries of trade and finance were mismanaging things, affecting their business and the market.

If the mismanagement continues and the law of supply and demand is ignored, market instability would worsen, they cautioned.