Excise duties cut, fuel prices drop. The data

For petrol, Mimit underlined yesterday, the number of plants with a price lower than 2 euros per liter is equal to 18,252, i.e. 91.1% of all road and motorway plants. For diesel, however, the number of systems with a price lower than 2.20 euros is equal to 7,539, i.e. 37.6% of all road and motorway systems.

The new excise duty cut on diesel came into effect on November 10th. According to the Mef-Mase interministerial decree published in the Official Journal, the tax discount is equal to 4.88 cents per liter (VAT included) and will remain in force until 23 November. The previous cut expired last Sunday.

The economic coverage of the measure follows the accounting model already adopted monthly starting from last March. The tax discount at the pump is financed by the greater revenue that the State has collected in the form of VAT due to the general increase in the prices of petroleum products. For this specific decree, not all available resources were used, but a share of 43.2 million euros was allocated from the increased revenue recorded between 1 and 31 October. The financial sustainability of the operation entails a daily cost of just over 3 million euros for the public coffers.

The new cut in excise duties has given rise to immediate, albeit limited, effects on the billboards of national distributors. Based on official monitoring provided by the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy, at the beginning of the week the price of diesel had recorded a slight increase due to the expiry of the previous extension. However, with the entry into force of the new ministerial text, diesel prices are once again settling at around an average of 2.2 euros per litre. Petrol, excluded from this specific remodulation, has instead maintained a stability that has continued for several days around the threshold of 2 euros per litre.

Current market values ​​are positioned at levels very close to the maximum tolerable limits defined by the main oil brands. In the Italian distribution landscape, Eni was the only company to formalize a precise price ceiling, setting the limits at 1.99 euros per liter for petrol and 2.25 euros for diesel, with the main competitors progressively adapting to this standard.

On 9 November, speaking of the Bills decree, Prime Minister Meloni had also touched on the topic of fuels: "Alongside bills, we continue to work on the cost of fuels. So far we have allocated two and a half billion euros to contain prices, concentrating interventions on diesel. Because diesel fuel moves trucks, transport and many production activities. And its cost is reflected in the prices of the goods we purchase every day. Today, the cap on pump prices adopted by most companies is in force oil. The mobile excise duty mechanism remains in force, and we will reactivate it whenever the price trend requires it", he explained.