PetroVietnam seeks policy support to boost E5 demand

In Vietnam, in an attempt to widen the discount between E5 and standard gasoline prices at the pump so as to attract for consumers, PetroVietnam is seeking exemptions for tariffs on imported equipment, environment and luxury taxes for the cassava-based fuel, as well as reductions to VAT. At the moment there is only a 1.6% price difference, which isn’t enough to convince drivers to switch over the blended fuel. Key to the company’s challenge is the high cost of cassava for its ethanol production facility compared with the ever-falling cost of fossil fuels.