According to an industry source, the landing cost of the product into storage tanks now is N93 per litre, saying that by the time the cost of transportation, union’s fees, retail outlets’ fees, station manager’s cost and other costs are added, the price of diesel will come to about N106. A government official, who monitors the product, told BusinessDay that it is available but very costly.
Investigations show that cost of production of manufacturing concerns and other small businesses that rely on the product would also increase as electricity supply has been in terrible state, and by extension there will be increase in the prices of goods and services.Â
Silvanus Okoli, depot operator, wondered why the product is scarce, but noted that it may not be unconnected to the issue of supply and demand.Â
According to him, if one or two companies do not have the product, the tendency is that demand will be high, since some sort of scarcity have been created, which affected the supply chain.
An official of one of the major supply companies said his firm has some stocks, noting that they have been selling diesel to customers.
According to him, the company’s big time customers are still buying diesel from them, saying customers who probably needed small quantities for retailing are those that may be having problems sourcing the product.
Manufacturers use diesel to run their alternative source of power in the absence of electricity, and this makes competition with foreign products difficult.