Fuel sales up in first ten months, particularly in border regions

Budapest, December 21 (MTI) – Sales in petrol in Hungary went up by an annual 5 percent, or 60 million litres, and in diesel by 10 percent, or 125 million litres, in the first ten months of the year, daily Magyar Idok said on Monday.

Demand for petrol jumped however by around 20 percent and for diesel by 30 percent at pumps in the border areas, particularly near the borders with Slovenia and Romania, the paper cited the press chief of the national tax and customs office (NAV) as saying.

What fuelled demand was that 95-octance petrol cost on average 44 forints (EUR 0.14) less per litre compared to Slovenia, 35 forints less than in Croatia, 21 forints less than in Romania and 17 forints less than in Serbia, Attila Suller told the paper, adding that diesel prices were also higher in almost all neighbouring countries.

The previous years saw a reverse trend with Hungarian drivers crossing in great numbers to neighbouring countries to fill their tanks with cheaper fuel, Suller said.

A similar situation was only prevalent in the month of October when Hungarian drivers flocked to Austria and Ukraine to fill tanks with cheaper fuel there, he said.

He said that strict controls over the past years have practically eliminated fuel smuggling across the border, especially in the east.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters