Price of a liter of gasoline has already dropped by R$ 0.12 on average; see variation by state

The transfer of the gas tax cut already has an effect on the price in almost the entire country, according to a survey carried out by ValeCard at the request of the Sheet. On average, the price of fuel fell by 1.6%, or R$ 0.12 per liter, between Friday (24) and Tuesday (28).

The ValeCard survey, based on electronic transaction data, detected a drop in 24 states and the Federal District. There was not a drop only in Maranhão, where the price rose 1.54%, and in Paraíba, where it remained practically stable.

The law that cuts federal and state taxes on gasoline was signed into law by President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) on Friday. Federal taxes were zeroed and ICMS is now limited to 18%, but states are still questioning the cut in court.

Federal taxes, however, were immediately zeroed, guaranteeing a discount of R$ 0.69 per liter, or 9.3% of the average price identified by the ANP (National Agency of Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels) last week.

The cut has been gradually arriving at the stations, as distributors still have products with old stocks.

According to Valecard, the biggest drops were observed in Amapá (-7.1%), Paraná (-6.5%) and Santa Catarina (-6.5%). In São Paulo, the drop in the average price of gasoline was 3.1%. Bahia, Espírito Santo, Mato Grosso, Piauí and Tocantins had declines of less than 1%.

For the time being, only São Paulo and Goiás have adjusted the ICMS rate on gasoline to the law that establishes the ceiling for the tax. The decisions, however, were announced on Monday (27), and do not have as much impact on the survey.

In a hearing at the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday, the Minister of Mines and Energy, Adolfo Sachsida, said that he is in contact with the companies and the ANP (National Agency for Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels) to seek a solution to expedite transfers.

The proposal is to allow the consigned sale of fuel from refineries to distributors. In this model, distribution companies pick up products from refineries, but invoices are only issued after tax cuts.

Thus, all the stock that enters the distributors would already have the tax cut discount. Without this measure, the expectation of the sector is that the transfer will only reach the stations in full within a period of 10 to 15 days.

The government hopes that the tax cuts will guarantee a reduction of up to 20% in the price of gasoline, which reached a record last week, with the transfer of the 5.2% adjustment promoted by Petrobras almost two weeks ago.

According to Valecard, even with the decline in gasoline prices, hydrated ethanol is more advantageous in five Brazilian states: São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Goiás, Mato Grosso Do Sul and Maranhão. The projection considers that a liter of ethanol should cost up to 70% of a liter of gasoline.