Fuel-price controls force Brazil to import 12bn dollars in oil and refined products

Wednesday, December 26th 2012 - 07:17 UTC

Full article 6 comments

Brazil faces record trade deficits in petroleum products in 2012 and 2013 as a result of government fuel-price controls, problems with its refining system and rising consumer demand, the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper reported last weekend. Read full article

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Anglotino
Sounds like the perfect market for the Falklands to export to when the industry is fully up and running.
Dec 26th, 2012 - 09:09 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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ChrisR
These SA countries just cannot stop trying to buck the market.

Only Mr. Market knows what is going to happen and stunts like holding prices down artificially WILL blow up in Dilma's face.

The other problem, common in SA including Uruguay is the monopolistic position of the refiner.

I would put a lot of money on the fact that the refineries are not as efficient as any commercial operator elsewhere in the world.

And who is going to pay for the 11.8 bn USD? None other than everybody who pays tax, whether they have their own transport or not, pathetic really.
Dec 26th, 2012 - 12:39 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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Captain Poppy
Price controls have never worked anywhere and never will. Natural market forces will always prevail in one way or another. The USA's 70's energy crisis was largely the fault of price controls.

“Your America is doing many things in the economic field which we found out caused us so much trouble. You are trying to control peoples' wages and prices — peoples' work. If you do that you must control peoples' lives. And no country can do that part way. I tried and it failed. Nor can any country do it all the way either. I tried that too and it failed. You are no better planners than we. I should think your economists would read what happened here.”

Hermann Goering-Post WWII interview on rebuilding Germany

http://mises.org/daily/1962
Dec 26th, 2012 - 01:48 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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Anglotino
A great comparison is Colombia's Ecopetrol. The Colombian government doesn't interfere in its oil industry as much as Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil do and for this reason the company is well run and profitable. It isn't sme bloated arm of a welfare state.

The market is not distorted and fuel subsidies have been reduced and I think eliminated. Petrol is more expensive than in the US.

It's also interesting that at one stage this year it was also bigger than Petrobas.
http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2012/05/17/ecopetrol-bigger-than-petrobras/#axzz2FfOgeb1H
Dec 26th, 2012 - 08:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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British_Kirchnerist
#1 Except they'll find the market closed, unless we negotiate

#3 Why do you approvingly quote a Nazi, from an article written by a guy who wrote a book attacking Lincoln as a big stater and defending the position of the slaveowning South?!
Dec 31st, 2012 - 01:13 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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Captain Poppy
Well BK, I guess you will need to do some reseach on why then, if you are unable to deduce why and need to know. It's ashame that you feel knowledge only comes from one tree. If you re-read the quote....slower, you make get it. Increase the font size too.
As for his position on Lincoln and slves, that's meaningless and insignificant. Stay focused on the price controls.
Dec 31st, 2012 - 03:16 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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