The shadow market is starting to gain momentum again, as evidenced by the latest research of the capital Institute of Consumer Expertise. Experts checked diesel fuel being sold at Ukrainian gas stations, which is also supplied wholesale to logistics and industry. The results are far from encouraging – over 30 percent of the diesel fuel turned out to be fake. The market had barely recovered from the shortage and stabilized prices when the illegal traders started filling it with cheap substitutes again. The rapid return of counterfeiters to the market is also due to the fact that fuel excise taxes will soon be reintroduced, making it inevitably more expensive. This will only increase their profit margins, as it will be more ‘interesting’ for them to operate without paying or intending to pay any taxes.
20 samples from various regions of the country were delivered to the laboratory. Experts tested the quality of diesel fuel at large and medium networks such as WOG, SOCAR, AMIC, PARALLEL, KLO, PRIME, AVIAS, OVIS, SHELL, Avantage 7, NEFTEK, NPG, U.GO, UPG, BRSM-nafta, MARSHALL, ESKO, Ukrnafta, PATRIOT, SPECTR.
