Page 62 - RUSRptAug18

Russian wholesale gasoline prices fell in June by 13% from May highs while retail prices were up by 2.1% in the same month although the pace of price growth for retail has slowed, Kommersant reports on July 10. The slowing inflation in gas prices will take some political pressure off president Vladimir Putin, who is a lot less popular recently.
Russians are upset by a string of costs the government have imposed on the population recently, the most contentious of which was a five-year increase in retirement ages, which has been so unpopular that the Kremlin is thinking about backtracking .
However, the gains in the cost of crude related to the US decision to reimpose sanctions on Iran have driven up the average prices of an oil barrel over $60 this year and oil was trading at $74.34 at the time to writing. That has sent the cost of gasoline at petrol stations soaring this year and Putin spend a full 15mins talking about the spike in gas prices during his recent annual marathon phone-in where regular Russians can ask him questions directly.
The prices for 95 and 92 gasoline on St Petersburg-based commodities exchange SPIMEX have fallen 13% and 14% to RUB47k/t and RUB 48k/t, respectively from May’s highs VTB Capital (VTBC) reports. The exchange price for summer diesel has decreased 6.5% to 46.8k/t over the same period.
“However, the average retail price of gasoline increased 2.1% in June (vs. 5.6% in May), while total growth in 1H18 reached 9.4%. According to the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service, retail prices continue to grow at independent filling stations, and integrated oil companies are fulfilling the agreement on freezing retail prices. According to the Moscow Fuel Association, among integrated oil companies only Tatneft and Gazprom Neft raised gasoline prices in June in Moscow, while independents Tisa, TransAZ, Vemes and Shell also increased them,” VTBC said in a note.
9.1.2 Automotive sector news
Sales of cars and light commercial vehicles (LCVs) in Russia increased by 10.8% year-on-year in June to 0.156mn units in June and by 18% y/y in January-June 2018 overall to 0.85mn units, the July 5 report by AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee shows.
62 RUSSIA Country Report August 2018 www.intellinews.com