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The Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission is considering making submissions to impose harsher penalties traders or businesses found engaging in fuel hoarding.

Hoarding, in this context, refers to when unscrupulous traders stock up on items for which a price increase is expected and refrain from selling them until later, to make higher profit.

The fuel prices have increased significantly from last Sunday.

Motor Spirit now costs $3.02 per litre – a jump of 0.25 cents, Diesel is retailing at $2.85 per litre after a 0.46 cent increase, Premix has increased by 0.29 cents and is selling at $2.88 per litre and Kerosene has increased to $2.33 per litre – up by 0.49 cents.

FCCC Chief Executive, Joel Abraham, warns any trader found in breach of the FCCC Act will be dealt with harshly to prevent repeat offences.

Abraham says they’ve received complaints from consumers claiming that some fuel traders held back stock prior to the increased fuel price coming into effect for this month.

Any trade caught breaching section 87G FCCC Act 2010 can attract penalties of up to $10,000 for the first offence and $100,000 for a second or subsequent offence, or imprisonment for up to 10 years.

For bodies corporate, the maximum penalty is five times higher.