German drivers are crossing in their droves into western Poland to buy cheaper fuel at petrol stations, giving rise to local shortages and complaints from the Polish population.
Poland’s energy minister Miłosz Motyka on March 9 told commercial radio station RMF FM that Poland’s state owned fuel giant Orlen was reporting a sharp increase in customers visiting Poland from Germany.
The minister assured the public that there was no threat to national fuel supplies but Polish municipalities along the German border reported shortages at petrol stations.
Mayor of Świnoujście Joanna Agatowska said: “Since last weekend, local petrol stations have seen a rise in traffic from Germany because petrol was nearly 50 cents dearer at the petrol stations of Poland’s western neighbour”. She said her town was suffering from “fuel tourism”.
Polish media has been reporting that the difference on the price of petrol was now more than 70 cents per litre.
For motorists with a 50-litre tank, the difference amounts to savings of more than €30, making the short trip across the border highly attractive.
Agatowska said she was worried not by price but “rather the lack of availability” because petrol stations were reporting shortage. She urged stations to limit sales to people filling canisters and called on the authorities to enforce rules limiting how much fuel drivers may take across the border.
“Above all, we must ensure uninterrupted access to fuel for our residents and municipal companies, which must carry out their duties safely and uninterruptedly,” Agatowska said in a statement published on the Świnoujście website.
But according to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle the numbers of cross-border shoppers is likely to grow because Orlen is about to introduce weekend promotions on fuel prices and these are being advertised widely in German media.
With regard to fuel tourism, though, it is not all one-way traffic. What the Germans are doing in Poland, Poles are doing in Slovakia.
According to Polish media reports, for the first time in a decade petrol prices in Slovakia, part of the Eurozone, are lower than those in Poland. That is partly explained by the relative strength of the Polish currency (PLN) against the euro. As a result, Polish drivers have been popping across the Slovakian border to fill their tanks.
The phenomenon of the sharp rise in pump prices is a result of the sharp increases caused by the rise in the price of oil. That has been one of the effects of the ongoing military conflict in the Middle East and has led to concern about potential shortages in Poland.
The government has appealed for calm, saying Poland is not threatened with fuel shortages with Tusk accusing the right-wing PiS of “trying to destabilise the situation” by claiming the government had failed to secure adequate supplies.
Earlier this week, the government announced it would address supply issues by relaxing restrictions on working hours for tanker drivers, allowing them to make more deliveries.
The PiS, though, continues to criticise the authorities for failing to do more and it has submitted a bill to parliament that would reduce VAT and excise tax on fuel to help bring down prices for consumers.
