Average retail petrol prices in Australia’s five biggest cities fell in the third quarter – the first time they did in nearly two years – according to the latest report. Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) supervision report.
The consumer watchdog found average gas prices in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth fell 10.3 cents per liter (cpl) from Q2 2022, to 177.7 cpl in Q3.
The drop reflects a 34% drop in international refined gasoline prices, as the monthly average Mogas 95 price – the Asia-Pacific benchmark – fell from 138.7 cpl in June 2022 to 91 ,6 cpl in September 2022.
According to the ACCC, this is due to weaker global demand and also concerns about a global recession.
ACCC vice president Mick Keogh said: “Although international factors pushed prices up sharply earlier this year, they contributed to a decline in prices in the September quarter.”
Average gas prices also fell in smaller cities and regional locations, although prices were still higher overall than in the five larger capital cities.
As previously reported, the Full fuel consumption was restored on September 29, 2022after being halved by the Federal Government in six months.
The ACCC found that gasoline prices in most locations increased less than the 25.3 cpl expected from the excise recovery.
“We looked at the impact of reinstatement of the excise tax, and taking into account international price fluctuations and price cycles in major cities, we found only a few,” said Mr. Keogh. small volume of average retail gasoline prices increased unexpectedly”.
In Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide, the average daily gas price increased from 15.9 cpl to 21.9 cpl between 28 September and 9 November.
Gasoline prices in all four cities peak in the days before or shortly after the full fuel consumption tax reinstatement in late September and then generally decline in the following weeks.
In Perth, the average gas price increased by 34.1 cpl in the six weeks after the excise tax was reinstated.
The ACCC notes that this coincides with the bullish phase of the petrol price cycle. The ACCC says Perth’s average price typically rises from 25.0 cpl to 30.0 cpl during the bullish phase of the price cycle, before falling again.
In capital cities with no price cycles, the ACCC found that gasoline prices rose during that period from 11.7 cpl (Canberra) to 23.2 cpl (Hobart). In regional locations, the average gain was 18.0 cpl.
The ACCC also found 18 locations in the region with above-average price increases of 25.3 cpl and is conducting further testing of these locations.
During the third quarter of this year, the average retail diesel price was significantly higher than the average retail gasoline price in the five largest cities.
This is due to factors including less supply from Russia, higher demand for diesel for heating during the northern hemisphere winter and wider use of diesel in industrial activity, according to the ACCC.
Six weeks after the full recovery of fuel excise, the average daily diesel price in the capital cities increased from 29.0 cpl (Hobart) to 37.6 cpl (Perth).
The average gain across all locations in the region is about 32.0 cpl.
The ACCC notes that the increase in retail diesel prices in the six weeks following the full recovery of excise is no greater than the combined impact of the restoration of full fuel excise and the increase in diesel prices. due to external factors.
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