Jozita manager: even if the fuel could be bought in vain, the price at the service stations will not drop below 50 cents

Prices fell, but sales also fell

The sharp drop in fuel prices during the Covid-19 pandemic has perhaps become the only good news in a context of slowdown in the economy and uncertainty about the future of people. How did this situation affect fuel sales at one of the lower-priced Skulas and Jozita service stations?

“The price of fuel itself is not the factor now for people to start buying more and driving more. Sales initially decreased and are now increasing. This is influenced by the warm climate and the relaxation of the quarantine conditions, ”Delfi Benas Majauskas, Skulas project manager, told the portal.

A spokesperson for the company, which operates 8 service stations and 7 car washes, noted that when fuel prices hit record levels, drivers take the opportunity to fill the tank full of fuel. B. Majauskas doubted if there are those who want to accumulate large stocks of cheap fuel and do it. According to him, the ordinary household consumer can fill unless the car’s fuel tank is full or refills one or the other container.

However, according to B. Majauskas, pouring fuel into tanks is now a rare phenomenon. According to the Skul project manager, the largest “green” diesel is purchased in large quantities unless farmers can buy it.

Look at “Jozita”, but it doesn’t promise to offer cheaper fuel

Although Skul offers one of the lowest fuel prices on the market, they are not the same at the different service stations of the company.

According to the company representative, B. Majauskas, this is determined both by the purchasing power of the population and by the flow of customers. The situation is especially grateful to the people of Kaunas, where both Skulos and its main competitors, the Jozita service stations, operate close to each other.

“It just caught our eye then. When there is no ‘Jozita’, we can consider a ‘more normal’ price. But we do not intend to offer fuel even cheaper than what they offer. In any case, our price will never be the lowest because our quality is not such that we can sell fuel cheaper than “” We try to maintain the best value for money, “said a representative from Skulos.

When asked if he predicted an even bigger drop in fuel prices, B. Majauskas said it would be the same as predicting the weather for the next two weeks. According to him, the price of oil in international markets depends on a series of factors that would be very difficult to predict and, sometimes, impossible.

Of a liter of fuel: more than half a euro goes to the state

Jonas Jokubauskis, the director of the company Jozita, which dictates the lowest fuel prices in the retail market, did not spare criticism from competitors who sell more expensive fuel and predicted that prices in the network of service stations managed by him they would fall even further.

“During the quarantine, sales fell by a third, but people drove the way they did. You won’t run away from buying fuel anywhere,” said J. Jokubauskis.

The businessman assured that even if Mazeikiai’s oil refining company, Orlen, reduced fuel prices to almost zero, both gasoline and diesel will cost a lot at service stations.

“If the price of gasoline reaches 0, we would still have to give the state 62 cents, and in the case of diesel fuel, almost 51 cents. Both include special taxes and the value added tax. Currently, gasoline at the factory It costs 18 cents a liter tax-free, and diesel 22 cents a liter. Everything else consists of taxes and our costs, this does not include costs incurred by us vendors, “said the director of Jozita.

J. Jokubauskis did not hide: the company under his leadership applies a fixed surcharge of 5 cents per liter of fuel.

“We try to offer a real price, without lies and deception, that currently prevails when we announce discounts of around 50 or even 100 percent. We have a price in all service stations, if customers say it is too expensive, what I will leave everywhere, ”said the head of the company, Jozita, to the Delfi portal.

With the growing demand for fuel, there is no intention to increase the profit margin

When asked about sales fluctuations during quarantine, the head of the company that sold the cheapest fuel in the country recalled a representative from Skul, who works in the same cheapest fuel segment. According to preliminary calculations, after the quarantine announcement, Jozita’s sales decreased by approximately a third, and currently the purchase of fuel has not increased significantly.

J. Jokubauskis speculated that people with the opportunity to accumulate fuel reserves are currently using it. According to the businessman, it is worth doing especially for those who heat their homes with liquid fuel for the oven, the price of which has been reduced to 32 cents per liter.

“A normal house would need 2,000 liters, which would cost 640 euros,” said J. Jokubauskis.

The Jozita director predicted an even bigger drop in fuel prices could be expected this week. If the price of diesel fuel at the company’s service stations currently costs 79 cents, according to J. Jokubauskis, the price could even drop to 75 cents.

With the release of quarantine conditions, as people begin to travel more and buy more fuel, won’t their prices go up at Jozita service stations?

“I am not going to raise the price, I get 5 cents per liter, which I get. I do not need more and others need 30 cents. And our price depends directly on the amount of fuel we buy at the Mazleniai Orlen plant,” said J. Jokubauskis at Delfi portal.