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Gasoline Price Stays at 131 Yen Per Liter for 4th Week

Posted on: Thursday, 13 October 2005, 12:00 CDT

By Kyodo News International, Tokyo

Oct. 13--TOKYO -- The average retail price of regular gasoline in Japan stayed at 131 yen per liter, the highest level since March 1991, for the fourth consecutive week, the Oil Information Center said Thursday.

The average price of premium gasoline remained at 142 yen for the fifth straight week, while that of diesel oil stayed at 107 yen for the second consecutive week, according to the industry watchdog.

The average retail price of kerosene gained 4 yen to 1,254 yen per 18 liters, the center said, adding these prices were as of Tuesday and included the 5 percent consumption tax.

On Oct. 1, major oil distributors, including Nippon Oil Corp. and Idemitsu Kosan Co., hiked gasoline and diesel oil prices by 1 yen per liter to pass greater crude procurement costs on to consumers.

But Japanese gas stations have become reluctant to transfer the higher wholesaler prices to drivers by pushing up their retail prices further, industry officials said.

An official at an oil wholesaler said, "We have detected signs that consumers have come to limit their purchases to deal with the gasoline price upsurge."

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Copyright (c) 2005, Kyodo News International, Tokyo

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Kyodo News International, Tokyo

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