By NURBAITI HAMDAN (Star Online)PETALING JAYA: The newly introduced RON95 fuel is now selling at RM1.80 – five sen higher than its previous price. RON97 has been upgraded as a premium product and its price has increased from RM1.80 to RM2.05.Domestic Trade, Co-operative and Consu-merism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the new prices were decided based on the current automatic pricing mechanism. “Although the price is now 5 sen higher, the Government is still subsidising 33.81 sen per litre (of RON95) which is equivalent to RM304mil monthly,” he told reporters after the launch of Primax 95 by Petronas here yesterday.
Currently, the Government is subsidising RON97 for 42.72 sen per litre. The cost for RON95 went up 102% from US$40.75 (RM143.79) per barrel to US$82.30 (RM290.40) in December last year and in August respectively. “If there are any changes in global prices, we will revise our prices accordingly. It is up to the Economic Council to decide.
“RON95 also adheres to the EURO2M specification, which is less polluting,” said Ismail Sabri, adding that consumers would get quality petroleum products at subsidised prices.
With the new pricing, he said, RON92 has been phased out as its usage was only 5% of the total petrol sales in the country.
In April last year, the then Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Samad said the Government was considering the use of petrol with higher research octane number (RON) to reduce fuel subsidies without hurting the lower-and-medium income groups.
Petrol Dealers Association of Malaysia president Datuk Hashim Othman said petrol stations could easily re-calibrate their pumps to adjust to the new prices.
He said petrol dealers would make a slight gain with the price increase as they had bought their current stock at the old price.
