Chairman of the Association of Small Fuel Distributors, Armando Miljavac, said on Friday he hoped that a solution would be found soon which would enable distributors to survive on the market, pointing out that the current situation was unsustainable due to capped fuel prices.

Miljavac made the statement to the Croatian state news agency Hina after representatives of the association today had a meeting with Minister Davor Filipovic at the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development.

Miljavac thought the meeting was positive, in the sense that there was some kind of an agreement to solve the problem.

He hopes that in the near future, in 7-8 day, a common position will be adopted and that the ministry will enable all distributors, including small distributors, to survive on the market.

He said that fuel distributors couldn’t continue like this, that the ministry was also aware of that, and that it wasn’t in anyone interest that petrol stations close down since that could threaten the supply.

“This is an incredible financial burden to everyone, even large distributors, and everyone has made it clear that the situation was unsustainable and that they cannot continue to operate,” Miljavac said, referring to the government’s latest decision, which has been in force since Tuesday.

At a conference call on Monday, the government capped the prices of basic fuels for a period of seven days, so the price of petrol remained at HRK 10.72 per litre, the price of diesel at HRK 12.3 per litre, and the price of blue-dyed diesel at HRK 8.49 per litre, while liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) that consists of propane and butane, was capped at HRK 10.01 per kilogramme for tanks and at HRK 13.49 per kilogramme for cylinders.

Miljavac said that small distributors were currently operating with losses of HRK 1 to 1.4 per litre of fuel sold.

He announced that as of next Tuesday fuel prices would no longer be capped, but the prices would be determined in accordance with the prices on the Mediterranean market.