Impose diesel excise graduly, Bangchak
The government should not impose a diesel excise of Bt5 per litre at one time but should introduce the tax step by step to cushion the impact on consumers, said Anusorn Sangnimnuan, president of Bangchak Petroleum.
The government plans to slap on the excise of Bt5 per litre at end of this month.
He added that domestic fuel prices were expected to go up within the next couple of days. The current marketing fee of diesel is between 95 satang and Bt1 per litre and that of gasohol is Bt1.30 per litre.
In May the Bangchak refinery will conduct maintenance for 30 days and the company is building up inventory.
The company will also expand the production capacity of its biodiesel plant to 400,000 litres per day from the present 300,000 litres. It expects to spend about Bt100 million on the expansion.
It might also decide to buy an existing biodiesel plant whose owners want to exit the business. The plant would need capacity of 300,000 litres per day. The company is in talks on possible deals on two biodiesel plants.
Bangchak also plans to plant oil palms in Rangsit on additional land of 4,500 rai (720 hectares).
