After the Malaysian government has gone to extreme lengths to implement targeted subsidies for Malaysians and exclude foreigners from buying subsidized RON95 petrol, (subsidized) RON95 is still available widely across southern Thailand.
From major Thai border towns up to the cities of Trang, Krabbi, and Surat Thani Malaysian RON95 can be purchased through roadside stalls between Baht 26-30 (RM3.26-3.76) per litre.
According to sellers, the origin of the RON95 they are selling is Malaysian. A distributor in a pick-up will drop off drums full of Malaysian RON95, which the sellers refill into old glass Coke bottles. Most retailers have at least 100-200 litres in stock. They can sell between 100-250 litres per day, depending upon their location. At an average 28 baht per litre this represents between 2,800-7,000 Baht (RM 351-878 sales per day. With a margin of around 5.0 Baht per litre, this represents Baht 500-1,250 (RM 62-282) per day.
This still gives the petrol collectors in Malaysia and smugglers about Baht 5.0 gross margin per litre, assuming they are buying RON95 at the subsidized rate of RM1.99 per litre. This means that border petrol kiosks and Customs are aware of the problem but are failing to prevent this massive leakage of subsidized fuel into Thailand. RON95 is still coming across the Malaysian-Thai border at 1,000s litres at a time in special pick-ups with modified fuel tanks.
Thai consumers who purchase Malaysian RON95 save between 1-4 Baht off official prices of Thai fuel.
The new targeted subsidy scheme where petrol purchasers must show their Mykad to purchase RON95 is failing to prevent the black market in subsidized RON95. This smuggling scheme appears to have mushroomed up after the floods in the south last November.
After the Malaysian government has gone to extreme lengths to implement targeted subsidies for Malaysians and exclude foreigners from buying subsidized RON95 petrol, (subsidized) RON95 is still available widely across southern Thailand.
From major Thai border towns up to the cities of Trang, Krabbi, and Surat Thani Malaysian RON95 can be purchased through roadside stalls between Baht 26-30 (RM3.26-3.76) per litre.
According to sellers, the origin of the RON95 they are selling is Malaysian. A distributor in a pick-up will drop off drums full of Malaysian RON95, which the sellers refill into old glass Coke bottles. Most retailers have at least 100-200 litres in stock. They can sell between 100-250 litres per day, depending upon their location. At an average 28 baht per litre this represents between 2,800-7,000 Baht (RM 351-878 sales per day. With a margin of around 5.0 Baht per litre, this represents Baht 500-1,250 (RM 62-282) per day.
This still gives the petrol collectors in Malaysia and smugglers about Baht 5.0 gross margin per litre, assuming they are buying RON95 at the subsidized rate of RM1.99 per litre. This means that border petrol kiosks and Customs are aware of the problem but are failing to prevent this massive leakage of subsidized fuel into Thailand. RON95 is still coming across the Malaysian-Thai border at 1,000s litres at a time in special pick-ups with modified fuel tanks.
Thai consumers who purchase Malaysian RON95 save between 1-4 Baht off official prices of Thai fuel.
The new targeted subsidy scheme where petrol purchasers must show their Mykad to purchase RON95 is failing to prevent the black market in subsidized RON95. This smuggling scheme appears to have mushroomed up after the floods in the south last November.
In the USA, they put coloring into either commercial or retail propane to distinguish one from the other e.g. the propane used in the orchard on my parent's property is around $2+ vs. $4+ for the retail propane they use to cook with (otherwise the same stuff) and generally, the distributors or rather their delivery drivers are NOT going to put the cheaper commercial into your retail tanks as they will get into alot of trouble if caught... Maybe Malaysia needs to do something similar - IF they actually care to stop this problem....
Interesting report...and interesting use of Coke bottles!