The Chairman of Depot & Petroleum Marketers Association (DPMA), Mr. Dapo Abiodun has given insights on why his members are no longer involved in the importation of petroleum products especially Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol.
In an interview Monday in Lagos, he said “two factors were directly responsible for the failure of marketers from importing products.”
“One is the price of crude which is determined by international forces beyond the control of Nigeria and the second was forex scarcity”.
“If I import petrol today with exchange rate of N305, at crude price of about 55 which translates to about $560 per tonne, for the cost of petrol, it means I will be landing my products at about N157 per litre.
“By the time I include other price margins, it means realistically, petrol need to be sold at about N167 per litre in Nigeria. It is only at this price that marketers can begin imports again.
Continuing, Dapo said “in view of this and being sensitive to the peculiarities of the economy, DPMA members realized that raising the pump price was not a workable option, hence in the main time only NNPC can bear all these cost and still sell at N145.
