Hungary’s price caps put immense pressure on petrol stations

Limitations on how much fuel you can get for the capped price are becoming more and more extreme. The price caps are putting immense pressure on petrol stations and as a result, they can barely keep up with demand. According to the government’s response, price caps can only stay if some conditions are met. The situation has worsened over time and it seems it has reached its breaking point.

In Hungary, the price of fuel per litre has been capped at HUF 480 (EUR 1.18) for over a year now. Limitations are becoming unavoidable as even the larger petrol stations struggle to keep up with demand. In some places, drivers might get only 10 litres of fuel for the capped price and some even choose to go to multiple pertol stations to fill up their tanks. Smaller petrol stations do not even receive supplies anymore in many cases.

The problem worsens

The Hungarian Mineral Oil Association warns that there are severe supply chain issues already. The government should decide if they want to cap prices or supply the market, said Ottó Grád, an energetics expert. He thinks that the price caps have caused too much damage so far, while price increases might not have caused as many problems.

Experts say that refinery capacity is already lacking. So, if the price caps remain, the demand will grow but supply will not be enough. If something were to happen with the oil pipeline coming from Russia, even crude oil could be missing. Also MOL, for example, had to limit the quantity of fuel meant for export. Their trucks are constantly on the road transporting fuel. According to the information given by them, fuel consumption has risen by 15-20 percent since the introduction of the price caps.