China raises fuel prices to their highest level in more than a decade

Retail gasoline prices in China have risen to levels not seen since at least 2006, while diesel prices have risen to their highest level in ten years after the rise in global oil prices in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The National Development and Reform Commission said that the retail prices of gasoline will rise from Friday, March 18, by 750 yuan, equivalent to 118 dollars, per ton, and diesel prices will increase by 720 yuan per ton, the largest increases since the adoption of the current pricing mechanism in 2013.

The capital, Beijing, for example, will witness a jump in gasoline prices to 10,770 yuan per ton and a rise in diesel prices to 9,695 yuan per ton. Local authorities set different prices, but they will all implement the increase.

Under China’s pricing system, retail fuel prices are evaluated every ten business days to reflect world record crude oil prices as long as those prices move between $40 and $130.

Brent prices reached a peak of 139.13 dollars a barrel on the seventh of March, but have fallen since then, as they were traded at 102 dollars on Thursday. Its levels were hovering at $99 before the start of the Russian invasion on February 24.