According to Lao Dong's records on October 31, at Thach Ha petrol station (Thach Ha commune, Thach That district, Hanoi city), there are a total of 6 petrol pumps, including 4 petrol pumps and 2 oil pumps. Of the 4 petrol pumps, only one pump is for E5 RON 92 bio-fuel, the remaining 3 pump RON 95 petrol.
Explaining this, a gas station employee here said that in Thach Ha commune, there are many metalworking and woodworking villages, so there are many cars transporting goods, so RON 95 gasoline is more popular.
"Most cars only use RON 95 gasoline, no one uses E5 gasoline, so the store only has one E5 gas station to serve a small number of motorbikes," said a store employee.
Similarly, Kim Quan petrol station (Kim Quan commune, Thach That district, Hanoi city) also has 4 petrol pumps, including 3 petrol pumps and 1 oil pump. Of the 3 petrol pumps, only 1 sells R5 RON 92 petrol, the rest sell RON 95 petrol.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Lien (Thach That district) said that when entering a gas station, the staff often automatically pump RON 95 gasoline according to the amount requested by the customer instead of asking which product to use. "I see that many customers still prefer RON 95 gasoline," Ms. Lien said.
Many other petrol businesses also gave similar reasons. "If 1,000 liters of petrol are sold per day, E5 petrol is only about 100-200 liters. Besides, the loss rate of E5 petrol is high, so if there is a lot of inventory, the store will lose more. Therefore, the store is not interested in selling," said a representative of a petrol business.
In Hanoi, some small gas stations have 1-2 pumps that only sell diesel and RON 95 gasoline, no E5 gasoline pumps. Store staff said they only sell RON 95.
"The structure of the gas station has only 2 tanks, so it will prioritize best-selling products, while people prefer RON 95 because they think it makes the car run better and the engine is stronger. "We are a business, so whichever products sell well will be promoted," said Mr. Minh, Director of a gasoline distribution company in Hanoi.
According to Mr. Minh, to sell E5 gasoline, businesses must invest billions in mixing stations and infrastructure systems while sales volume is low and profits are not high. The store also has a capacity for 2 tanks, and if they want to renovate another tank, they will have to ask permission from the competent authority.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Sinh - Director of Chien Thang Yen Bai Petroleum Company Limited - said that the consumption of E5 gasoline is very slow, far behind RON 95 gasoline. If in one day, the company sells more than 500 m3 of RON 95 gasoline, then E5 gasoline can only sell 50-60 m3.
People buy it mainly to fuel mowers, weeders, or old motorbikes. In the near future, if consumption remains sluggish, businesses may consider stopping the sale of E5 gasoline.
According to Associate Professor Dr. Ngo Tri Long - former Director of the Institute for Price Market Research, E5 gasoline consumption is decreasing because businesses are not profitable. Environmental protection tax has decreased but the difference is not much with A95 gasoline, the price between E5 biofuel and mineral gasoline is not large so it is not preferred by people.
In particular, importing ethanol (raw material for producing E5-PV gasoline) from abroad is cheaper than domestically. Therefore, businesses investing in ethanol production projects are almost ineffective and have closed down. Furthermore, consumers do not see any benefits from using E5 gasoline. These are the reasons why the implementation of the roadmap has not been as expected.
