HK motorists question possible price collusion as retail petrol prices hit record highs
發佈日期: 2025-08-27 23:51
TVB News
The import price of unleaded petrol has eased in recent years but the retail pump prices at petrol stations have kept climbing to record highs.
Some motorists suspect petrol companies of price collusion, with some academics questioning whether the land cost of gas stations is merely an excuse used by oil companies to justify their pricing.
At the pump in Hong Kong, topping up your tank in recent years has come with steeper prices.
It costs nearly 30 dollars per litre to refuel with unleaded petrol, with premium ones charging even more "premium prices."
This driver says four or five years ago, it set them back just 17 dollars per litre, and now it's 28 dollars per litre.
Average import prices of unleaded petrol rose from under 2 dollars per litre in mid-2020 to more than 8 dollars in June 2022, with retail prices rising in tandem.
However, while import prices later fell back to around 4 dollars, retail prices failed to follow suit.
Across different petrol stations, the listed retail price is similar. This station charges 28.29 dollars per litre. Another three set a similar rate at 28.44 dollars.
This motorist says it's often that one company raises the price and the rest just follow. In the end, it's the consumers who are squeezed.
Since June 2003, the government has introduced a new tendering arrangement for petrol station land, hoping to introduce more competition to the market. But retail prices kept going up.
HKU Business School Associate Professor Zhou Wen says land premiums are fixed costs, and regardless of land prices, oil companies have little incentive to trim prices if it eats into their profits.
In June, the Competition Commission says it had completed investigations into anti-competitive conduct in the motor fuel sector.
It found no evidence meeting the legal threshold and therefore took no further action.
Lawmaker Holden Chow says close monitoring should continue as high fuel prices impact people's daily lives with the city's prices at the pump markedly elevated compared with global crude oil trends.
