Rising oil prices inhibit truck demand

On March 20th, the “Development and Reform Commission: Today's refined oil prices rose by 600 yuan per ton.” This message once again caused a huge repercussions in the heavy-duty industry. Some heavy-duty truck dealers faced reporters and complained.

Liu Liyang, Yangzhou Xinyang Automobile Sales & Service Co., Ltd., faced a reporter’s interview and complained. He said, “You can see that in front of our company, a new car lined up neatly and no one came to buy it. Especially tractors." Then Liu Liyang calculated an account for the reporter. The refined oil price now rose by 600 yuan per ton, equivalent to a five cents per kilometer increase. The profit margin of truck users was greatly squeezed. According to him, there were many truck users around. In order to survive, they began to change course and find other ways out.

The continuous rise in the international crude oil price has become a fuse. After the price of domestic refined oil products has been raised, the price of domestic liquefied petroleum gas has also climbed. Within a month, the national average price of liquefied gas rose by more than 500 yuan/ton.

According to a research report, fuel costs accounted for more than 40% of the cost of trucks. The larger the tonnage, the heavier the proportion of fuel costs. The fuel cost of heavy trucks accounts for about 50% of the total cost of use, and rising oil prices will seriously erode the profits of truck operations. For heavy trucks, for example, the truck transportation net profit has a negative correlation with the diesel price, and has a positive correlation with the transportation price, with specific ratios of 1:1.44 and 4.33:1. That is, the diesel price rose 9.69% this time, and the truck transportation net profit decreased 13.95%; if you want to maintain the previous net profit unchanged, the freight rate needs to rise 3.22%.

Under such circumstances, the upward adjustment of the prices of oil and gas will inevitably erode the profits of truck transporters. Truck drivers will reduce the impact of rising oil prices from the perspective of lowering the idling rate and improving the transportation efficiency, and further restrain the market from trucking. Demand. According to reports, for transport-type logistics companies, because of the higher proportion of oil costs to total costs, logistics companies are generally sensitive to changes in oil prices.

Although Zhang Dejie, sales manager of Shandong Xinge Automobile Trading Co., Ltd., did not respond as strongly as Liu Liyang, he believes that this will definitely impact the heavy truck market this year.

Zhang Wenshan, deputy general manager of Hebei Tongli Automobile Trade Co., Ltd., said when talking about the heavy-duty truck market this year, “We have more heavy-duty truck brands. As of mid-March, although the specific reports have not yet come out, compared with last year, the decline rate The sales volume in March was also showing a declining trend compared with the previous month.” He said that the price of oil has risen continuously, but freight rates have not risen due to rising oil prices. This has also had a big impact on the purchase behavior of heavy truck users.