Fuel dealers warn of post-Eid strike if margins not raised

KARACHI: Petroleum dealers have threatened to stop petrol and diesel sales after Eidul Fitr, in case the government does not revise their profit margins.

Addressing a news conference at the Karachi Press Club on Friday, the leadership of Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) gave the government until March 26 to revise petroleum dealers’ margin from 2.59 per cent to 8pc in the wake of a Rs55 per litre hike in diesel and petrol rates.

Currently, the dealers’ margin comes to around Rs8.64 per litre on diesel and petrol.

The PPDA leaders, including Abdul Sami Khan, Tariq Hasan and Ameer Khan Masood, said the petroleum levy and hike in petroleum prices have severely affected dealers as well as consumers.

They blamed oil-marketing companies (OMCs) for capping oil supplies. As a result, retail outlets are facing problems in obtaining the required quantity of oil products, drying up many pumps.

They said the petroleum dealers have been urging the government for the last two years to raise their profit margins, but the government had not heeded their demand. They also demanded an investigation against OMCs, who they claimed had made huge inventory gains on old stocks.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2026