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Gasoline Prices Remain High at 125 Yen Per Liter

Posted on: Wednesday, 13 July 2005, 12:01 CDT

Jul. 13--TOKYO -- The average retail price of regular gasoline at Japanese gas stations was 125 yen per liter including taxes as of Monday, the same as the previous week, the Oil Information Center said Wednesday.

The prices did not budge as gas stations put priority on preventing further price hikes from scaring drivers from their shops, even at the expense of their margins, according to officials of the leading petroleum market watcher.

The price of premium gasoline also remained unchanged from the previous week at an average 136 yen.

Since global crude oil prices are moving in the vicinity of record highs, Japanese gas stations may be forced to hike retail prices in the coming weeks, the officials said.

Starting July 1, major oil distributors like Nippon Oil Corp. and Idemitsu Kosan Co. raised prices by 3 yen or more. As a result, average retail prices rose by 2 yen after the start of July because gas stations transferred some of their costs to consumers.

But the retail industry refrained from conducting further hikes this week, because the months of July and August are the summer vacation season, they said.

The information center also said the average diesel oil price came to 101 yen as of Monday, the same as the previous week.

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Source: Kyodo News International, Tokyo

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