Okumuş stated that due to the increases in fuel and electricity prices, the stations did not even have the capital to buy fuel.
"The stations, which are open 24 hours a day, have trouble paying even their electricity bills. Until May, close to 5,000 station doors can be locked," Okumuş warned.
STATIONS CANNOT EVEN PAY ELECTRIC BILLS
Emphasizing that the high price hikes in electricity bills on top of the fuel price hikes put the stations in a great economic difficulty, Okumuş said, "A dealer that sells 10,000 liters per day incurs a loss of more than 60,000 Turkish Lira."
"The stations, which are open 24 hours a day, have trouble paying even their electricity bills. In this process, the profit share of the dealers decreased from 12.1% to 4.19 percent. Personnel expenses increased by 52.3 percent and electricity expenses increased by 132 percent. Banks' credit card commission costs have doubled. A thousand stations, which could not provide collateral to banks, became unable to buy fuel today," he added.
Imran Okumus, Chairman of the Petroleum Products Employers' Union (PÜİS), affiliated to TİSK, which includes the fuel stations, made remarkable statements about the bottleneck in the industry.
Stating that 13,033 fuel dealers operate throughout Turkey, Okumuş stated that the expenses of dealers operating with low profit shares have increased by more than 100 percent in recent years.
Okumuş stated that the hikes made due to the fact that the profit share in fuel prices remained constant in TL, caused a proportional decrease in the profit margin.
"While the profits of the dealers are decreasing proportionally, they take a hit due to the increase in fuel prices. Due to the triple increase in fuel prices in the last year, the capital needs of the dealers have also increased by 3 times. If no steps are taken to eliminate this grievance that the stations have fallen into, nearly 5,000 station doors will be locked until May," he said.
STATIONS CANNOT EVEN PAY ELECTRIC BILLS
Emphasizing that the high price hikes in electricity bills on top of the fuel price hikes put the stations in a great economic difficulty, Okumuş said, "A dealer that sells 10,000 liters per day incurs a loss of more than 60,000 liras. The stations, which are open 24 hours a day, have trouble paying even their electricity bills. In this process, the profit share of the dealers decreased from 12.1% to 4.19 percent. Personnel expenses increased by 52.3 percent and electricity expenses increased by 132 percent. Banks' credit card commission costs have doubled. A thousand stations that could not provide collateral to banks became unable to buy fuel today. Fuel dealers receive equal profits with distribution companies. But we have all the trouble. We produce energy. We pay the labor charges. It is not fair to have equal proportions in the amount of profit while our expenses are many times higher than the distribution companies. This injustice must end."