Fuel prices down again.

With dipping oil prices now in the region of USD60~70 per barrel, our petrol prices have gone down by yet another 15 sen for RON97, to RM2.15 per liter. This isn't actually at the same level it use to be (RM1,92), but since the price peaked at RM2.70 in the middle of the year, today's price can be considered "relatvely low".

Now, when petrol prices went up, soon to follow were prices of food and groceries - excuse given is that, well, the cost of logistics has gone up. Also, the tariff for electricity rose too, by roughly 25%. When petrol price hikes were announced in the past, in the beginning this sparked off some mass refueling at petrol stations. Long queues of cars were seen lined up at all petrol stations, and even some heated arguments and queue-jumping (motorcyclists being the major offenders). Now that the price drops are announced, there is an opposite effect of people refraining from refueling, until the price drop comes in to effect. Now the petrol dealers, who had to purchase their petrol at the old higher price, start to complaint, and thus appeal to the government to stagger the drop in petrol price, instead of letting it drop all the way down overnight. Never mind that only a few months ago, they could sell off their existing stock of petrol bought at a lower price for a much higher one after the petrol prices went up. Some dealers apparently closed their pumps and declared "out of stock", in order to capitalize on this. Evidently, people only remember bad experiences and forget the good ones (who was complaining when the prices went up?).

Well, now that petrol prices have gone down, we have yet to see any real evidence in reduction of food and groceries whose prices were increase as their prices were allegedly linked to the petrol increase in the first place. And now, these same people can offer and explanation as to why food prices WILL NOT go down with cheaper petrol prices (these people think of everything).

Quote from the Star (http://thestar.com.my/services/printerfriendly.asp?file=/2008/10/29/nation/2387778.asp&sec=nation) :

Wednesday October 29, 2008

Restaurateurs explain why food won’t get cheaper

PETALING JAYA: Food at restaurants and hawker stalls will not be cheaper despite the price cut of consumer goods by hypermarkets.

“It does not make sense for us to reduce the price of food at restaurants unless the petrol price is reverted to RM1.92,” said Malaysian Muslim Restaurant Owners Associa­tion president Jamarulkhan Kadir.

“All this while, we have been absorbing higher costs as we haven’t been increasing our food prices even after the price hikes. So I don’t see why we should lower our prices now,” he told The Star yesterday.

Malaysian Indian Restaurant Owners Association president Datuk Ramalingam Pillai also felt that the petrol price reduction did not justify restaurants charging their customers less.

“The question of us cutting our prices does not arise as we have always maintained our prices,” he said, adding that it was only fair that restaurants made up for their reduced profits now.

Taiping Hawkers Association chair­man Tan Thian Kooi said it was un­­likely that hawkers would lower their prices because suppliers were reluctant to reduce the price of ingre­dients.

“It is difficult for hawker food prices to change according to petrol prices as they are also dependent on the cost of supplies,” he said.

Tan added that the high electricity tariff would deter factories producing the ingredients to lower prices.

Well, the downside of this petrol price reduction?

• People are returning to their old (bad) driving habits, driving fast and furiously with no regard to economical driving methods. In the past few days, I have been tailgated by nearly every form of road vehicle on four wheels (and also those with more than four will too). Banished from mention are the talks on fuel economy, MPG, hypermilling, hybrids and (dread) NGV that were the spotlight of talk and banter just a few months ago.

• Our country actually exports oil (Petronas), so our budget for next year, based on projected income forecast from oil sales (at the former high price), seems to be unworkable now. So, we have plans, but no money. Hope the government gets this one sorted out soon, otherwise everyone will rush to do their projects in Jan 2009!

• Public transportation use is declining as more people take to the roads in their own vehicles once again. This is evident in the increase in traffic density and jams when driving through the city.
  

Well, I hope that drivers come to realize that petrol is a non-renewable source of energy, that will continue to dwindle as time goes by. We should conserve our resources and take only what we need, less we leave nothing behind for our children to inherit!