A

fter putting its plan on hold for a few months, state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina finally raised the prices of its non-subsidized fuels to cope with higher import costs caused by local currency depreciation.

The firm increased the price of its main special fuel product, Pertamax, with an octane rating of 92, technically known as RON 92, by Rp 150 (1 US cent) to Rp 9,450 per liter in Greater Jakarta, Banten and West Java, according to an announcement on its website on Friday. The rise will apply nationwide where prices differ.

In addition to this, it has also pushed up the price of another special product, Pertamax Plus, by Rp 200 to Rp 10,500.

Pertamina corporate communication vice president Wianda Pusponegoro said that the increase was inevitable as the firm had struggled to keep the prices steady amid an upward trend in market prices in past months. She attributed the stronger dollar, which had put pressure on import costs, as the major determinant behind the hike.

'€œSince July the US dollar has strengthened by nearly 7 percent against the rupiah,'€ Wianda told The Jakarta Post in a phone interview.

Pertamina normally changes the prices of its non-subsidized fuel products, including Pertamax, every two weeks. But in May it halted its regular price adjustment on government order.

Critics pointed out that the move might create big losses for the firm, which has been confirmed by its first-half financial report.

From January to June, the firm saw nearly a 50 percent drop in its net profits in line with plunging revenues and sizeable losses resulting from its fuel distribution business.

Late last month, the government gave a green light for a potential fuel-price hike as the current prices have been under their economic levels.

Wianda, however, denied that the price increase was meant to cope with its first-half profit drop as sales of Pertamax were lower than its widely sold Premium gasoline.

Pertamina'€™s move to raise the price of Pertamax runs against a policy taken by its competitors, Shell and Total, which even slashed the price of their fuel product with a similar octane rating to Rp 9,600 from Rp 9,750 amid a recent downward trend in global oil prices.

In a separate development, Wianda said that Pertamina saw the sales of its new fuel product, Pertalite, reach 4,000 liters per day at every gas station, nearing the target of 5,000 liters.

'€œWe are still selling it at the promotional price of Rp 8,400 [per liter],'€ she said.

Pertamina expects around 5 percent of Premium users nationwide to shift to Pertalite, offsetting losses from Premium sales. (saf)