Panel SA: Businessmen claim that Petrobras exaggerated in the mega-increase

Representatives from various sectors of the industry believe that Petrobras exaggerated with the mega-increase announced this Thursday (10th).

“This is an emergency situation and the solution is a set of actions”, says José Ricardo Roriz, president of Abiplast (which brings together the plastics sector).

“I think that Petrobras was quick to take the lead with the increase of this magnitude. It solved its situation, and the problem was left to others, given that it has a monopoly of oil derivatives in Brazil. And it is the main beneficiary of Repetro , which is a subsidy for the oil industry”, says Roriz.

José Velloso, president of Abimaq (machinery and equipment sector), says that most of the fuel consumed in Brazil is produced at a cost in reais. “Petrobras is only able to pass on 100% of the increases from abroad because it is a monopoly. I think it exaggerated”, he says.

For José Carlos Martins, president of the CBIC (Brazilian Chamber of the Construction Industry), this is an old problem.

“That’s not even new. I think there’s even now a justifiable fact. But could it be that over time she didn’t exaggerate and now she ends up putting it on top of the exaggeration? It’s much less today, when the world is in turmoil, but who knows we’re not paying a price for previous mistakes. Every time someone tried to change it, there was that thing of manipulating price”, he says.

Humberto Barbato, from Abinee (electrical and electronics industry), regrets the increase, but emphasizes that it was the necessary measure in the face of the international crisis with the war. “What I fear is that we are going to have growth in inflation, high cost of living this year, because everything is loaded in Brazil via diesel,” he says.

Joana Wedge with Andressa Motter and Ana Paula Branco