The new petroleum prices for August - September will significantly increase from tomorrow Friday 18 August.

The wholesale petrol, kerosene and diesel will increase by 13.83 seniti/litre, 19.46 seniti/litre, and 19.05 seniti/litre respectively.

The Tongatapu retail prices for Petrol will increase by 14 seniti/litre to 3.49 (equivalent to 4.18% increase), Kerosene will increase by 18 seniti/litre to $2.64 (equivalent to 7.31% increase) and Diesel will increase by 19 seniti/litre to $3.49 (equivalent to 5.76% increase). All changes include consumption tax.

The Ministry of Trade and Economic Development said that the increase in the price of all grades in Tonga this month is due to the annual review price rise combined with higher international product prices.

“If this was a normal monthly review, we would expect a price increase for all grades due to higher international prices. However, this month's price change is also impacted by the changes from the 2023 Annual Review whereby petrol, kerosene and diesel will increase by 3.68 seniti/litre, 4.68 seniti/litre and 3.08 seniti/litre respectively.”

Meanwhile, crude oil prices surged past the USD 80/bbl mark in July, marking the first such occurrence in three months. Higher crude oil prices combined to strong refining margins have contributed to a large increase in all product prices. The Tongan Pa’anga has strengthened slightly, up by 0.5% partially offsetting some of the increase in landed cost.

Petroleum prices are mainly determined by the movement of FOB prices in the Singapore market based on July 2023 average prices of the daily published Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) benchmark prices. Recommended wholesale prices have been calculated using the Tonga Fuel price Template agreed and issued during the 2023 Annual Price Review.