With the cuts in energy tax known as the "fuel price brake", the federal government wanted to relieve drivers in the summer. Apparently, this boosted demand during this period. At other times, however, fuel deliveries fell sharply.
In the summer months, when the so-called fuel price brake applied, significantly more petrol was delivered in Germany. The domestic deliveries recorded by the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control - mostly at petrol stations - were 4.86 million tons from June to August. That is significantly more than in the same period of the past two years and even exceeds the pre-corona values by around 100,000 tons. In the months before and in September, on the other hand, the values were well below the pre-crisis level.
The phase of particularly high domestic deliveries of gasoline coincides with the period of temporary tax cuts on fuel. A connection is not proven, but very obvious. From March to May, in the first few months of the extreme increase in fuel prices in the wake of the Ukraine war, deliveries of 4.02 million tons were around 500,000 tons below the pre-crisis values in the comparable period. Also in September - i.e. after the tax cut - the values at 1.37 million tons of gasoline were well below the pre-Corona values. Data for October and November are not yet available.
In line with the lower deliveries, the price of petrol also fell almost continuously in September. At the beginning of the month it was just over EUR 2.02 for a liter of Super E10, but by the end it was just under EUR 1.88. Here too, however, the following applies: A connection is obvious, but not certain. Among other things, the price of oil fell over the course of the month. In addition, a tax law detail may have played an important role in the lower September deliveries: the mineral oil tax is not due when selling at the pump, but when it is delivered to the gas station. This made it attractive for operators to fill their warehouses again at the end of August at the reduced tax rate if possible.
Accordingly, they needed fewer deliveries in September. There had already been a similar shifting effect when the tax cuts began. At that time, it was attractive for operators to no longer be supplied in May but only in June. However, August stands out particularly clearly with a delivery volume of 1.71 million tons - both in the current year and in comparison to previous years.
In the case of diesel, particularly high deliveries can also be observed in August of this year - and particularly low values in May and September. Overall, however, there is no clear effect that is comparable to that of petrol. On the one hand, it could be noticeable that the tax reduction for diesel, which is already taxed lower, was only half as high as for petrol. In addition, a large part of the fuel is consumed by trucks - economic effects usually play a greater role here than with petrol.
