Retail outlets entice clients with promotions

Most private and foreign-owned gas stations in Beijing have launched promotional sales, reflecting soft market for petroleum products, although China’s price regulator, the National Development and Reform Commission, has raised the ceiling retail price by 300 yuan (US$43.94) per ton, to about 0.22 yuan (US$0.032) per liter for gasoline and 0.26 yuan (US$0.038) per liter for diesel fuel. Under pressure from weak demand, one Shell-branded station in the Beijing suburbs lowered its retail price by 0.2 yuan (US$0.029) per liter, while a Total gas station reduced retail prices by 0.1 yuan (US$0.014) per liter. Most privately owned stations have followed suit. Duomeiduo, a private gas station in Haidian district, lowered gasoline prices by 0.40 yuan (US$.05) per liter. PetroChina, China’s second largest fuel supplier, also made a similar move in some regions. In the northern Hebei province, PetroChina sells RON 93 gasoline for 0.39 yuan (US$0.057) less than the ceiling price, and in the southern Guangdong province, for 0.1-0.2 yuan per liter (US$0.014-0.029/liter) less than the ceiling price. (September 4, 2009)