英闻天下——380 Heated Debates over Oil Pricing System Reform

 　　Under China's current pricing system - which was introduced back in 2009, domestic fuel prices are only adjusted when prices of overseas crude oil change by more than 4 percent over 22 working days.

 

　　"We will raise or cut fuel prices more swiftly and make our fuel pricing mechanism¹ more flexible and more adaptive to fluctuations² in global oil prices."

 

　　The comments by Zhang Ping, who's the chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planning agency, came amid growing complaints from car owners.

 

　　"We see prices of crude oil fluctuate, but changes in our domestic fuel prices always lag behind."

 

　　"Hikes are frequent; cuts are rare, no doubt. That suggests there're problems in the pricing mechanism."

 

　　The prices were last adjusted on February 25th, when the week-long Chinese New Year disrupted the 22-business-day cycle which had already come and gone about a week previous to that.

 

　　In fact, on many occasions international oil prices may have dropped, but China's prices went up.

 

　　However, Zhou Dadi, a researcher with the top economic planning agency NDRC says the international price isn't the only deciding factor here.

 

　　"We formed our price based on the international crude oil price; however, other elements are also put into consideration such as cost of domestic oil refining, transportation and marketing³. Meanwhile, we also left a room for taxes and a reasonable profit for oil firms."

 

　　Han Xiaoping, Deputy Secretary General of the China Enterprises Investment Association, says the government may actually have a critical role here as well.

 

　　"The government has to step in when it comes to oil prices as the market is dominated by PetroChina and Sinopec. If the government step aside, oil prices may skyrocket. However, by doing so, the NDRC has excluded private companies from entering the sector⁴ and so the monopoly lingers."

 

　　Private firms, on the other hand, are concerned about the new reform plan which may see prices changed more frequently, and even make it tougher for them to access oil products.

 

　　Private oil firms, mostly in rural China, are also hoping to be able to import refined oil products.

 

　　According to the oil industry agency, Petroleum⁵ Circulation Committee, 1 out of 6 private wholesalers currently don't even have enough oil supply to meet demand.

 

　　There are 46 thousand privately-owned oil stations in China, making up a third of the nation's total retail⁶ sales volume.

 

　　For CRI, I'm Qi Zhi.

1 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

2 fluctuations   

波动，涨落，起伏( fluctuation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He showed the price fluctuations in a statistical table. 他用统计表显示价格的波动。
• There were so many unpredictable fluctuations on the Stock Exchange. 股票市场瞬息万变。

3 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

4 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

5 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

6 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。