China Increases Retail Fuel Prices After Crude Rises Above $100
Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- China, Asia’s biggest oil consumer, increased retail gasoline and diesel prices for the first time this year after crude in London rose above $100 a barrel.
Prices of both gasoline and diesel will rise by 350 yuan ($53) a ton starting today, or as much as 4.6 percent, the National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planner, said on its website yesterday. Gasoline in Xinjiang, the lowest among all Chinese cities, cost 8,265 yuan a metric ton and diesel was at 7,630 yuan a ton before the increase.
Brent crude on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London has risen 9.5 percent since China’s last fuel price adjustment, reaching a 2 1/2-year high during the past week. China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. and PetroChina Co. are the nation’s largest oil refiners.
China Increases Retail Fuel Prices After Crude Rises Above $100
Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- China, Asia’s biggest oil consumer, increased retail gasoline and diesel prices for the first time this year after crude in London rose above $100 a barrel.
Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- China, Asia’s biggest oil consumer, increased retail gasoline and diesel prices for the first time this year after crude in London rose above $100 a barrel.
Prices of both gasoline and diesel will rise by 350 yuan ($53) a ton starting today, or as much as 4.6 percent, the National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planner, said on its website yesterday. Gasoline in Xinjiang, the lowest among all Chinese cities, cost 8,265 yuan a metric ton and diesel was at 7,630 yuan a ton before the increase.The government boosted prices after crude in London rose to the highest in more than two years as civil unrest spread in the Middle East. China last increased gasoline and diesel prices by 4 percent on Dec. 22, based on a mechanism introduced in December 2008 that allows the NDRC to revise fuel prices when crude costs change by more than 4 percent over 22 working days.
“This isn’t enough if we benchmark against how crude has risen. We’ll need another price increase,” Brynjar Eirik Bustnes, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co., said by telephone from Hong Kong. “This one will allow refiners to avoid bigger losses but certainly it’s not going to give them profits.”
Brent crude on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London has risen 9.5 percent since China’s last fuel price adjustment, reaching a 2 1/2-year high during the past week. China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. and PetroChina Co. are the nation’s largest oil refiners.The ex-factory cost of No. 3 jet fuel will reach 6,340 yuan a ton, rising from 5,990 yuan, according to a separate statement posted on the NDRC’s website yesterday. Higher gasoline and diesel prices will add to costs for manufacturers and farmers. Consumer-price inflation accelerated to 4.9 percent in January from 4.6 percent in December. For 2010 as a whole, consumer prices rose 3.3 percent, breaching a government target of 3 percent.
--Winnie Zhu and Helen Yuan in Shanghai, Chua Baizhen in Beijing. Editors: Paul Tighe, Malcolm Scott
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