Petroleum dealers want commission increased

Anjana Samarasinghe

A Local petroleum dealers say it is difficult to find capital to purchase fuel and to manage the operations of fuel stations due to the high price increase of fuel.

Administrative Secretary of the Petroleum Dealers' Association (PDA) Asoka Mallawarachchi told Daily News Business petroleum dealers are only getting 1.75 per cent as commission for selling fuel. "However since five years this has not been increased," he said.

"Whenever there is an increase in fuel prices, petroleum dealers too need to pay the additional amount when purchasing fuel.

"Dealers purchase fuel depending on their demand. Today petroleum dealers face many problems managing their cash flows. Apart from high fuel prices dealers need to focus on wages of the workers and high electricity costs," he said.

"There are over 800 petroleum dealers in Sri Lanka. The lubricant business is much more profitable than selling fuel, he said.

"The PDA lobbied several times to increase the dealer commission in the past five years. In the international market fuel price increases rapidly and high fuel prices impact everybody.

"We do not want to put much pressure on the Government since every Government faces difficulties due to fuel price increase," he said.

"There should be a certain distance between fuel stations. Some new dealers who enter the business do not focus on this.

"When fuel stations are located nearby, none of the dealers make any profit when fuel has a fixed price and dealers cannot offer fuel at competitive prices, he said.