The price of motor fuel in Tonga went up sharply today, when the Ministry of Commerce, Tourism and Labour approved an increase in the price of fuel for March-April, increasing prices for a second month in a row.

There has been an increase in all three product prices. The wholesale price for March-April 2013 for Petrol leads the increase by 13.05 seniti/litre (4.9%), followed by Diesel for Power and Diesel by 5.50 seniti/litre and 4.69 seniti/litre increase (2.7% and 1.7% respectively) and Kerosene increased by 5.01 seniti/litre (2.3%). All changes including consumption tax.

The most painful to look at of all the new fuel costs is the Wholesale and retail price of petrol. The Retail price of petrol made a 4.6% leap from $2.84 to $2.97per litre, an increase of 13  seniti. The wholesale price of petrol made a 4.9% leap from $2.68 to $2.81 per litre, an increase of 13 seniti.

The retail price for diesel rose 4.69 seniti from $2.93 to $2.98 and the wholesale price from $2.77 to $2.82.

The retail price for kerosene rose by 5.01 seniti from $2.32 to $2.37, the wholesale price rose 5.01 seniti from $2.19 to $2.24.

The new prices are effective from today March 18.

The increase in the price of Kerosene, Diesel and Petrol for March-April 2013 is attributed to the increase in crude oil prices last month, tightening supply from refineries, among other reasons. This was slightly offset by the appreciation of the Tongan Pa'anga against the US dollar. 

Outlook

However, according to the Ministry of Commerce Tourism and Labour, crude prices fell in the first two weeks of March as a result of plentiful supplies. "The outlook for crude and product prices depends on demand from Asia and emerging economies balanced against additional supplies particularly from the US. Chinese demand shows no sign of slowing and if that trend continues along with the trend of declining US imports due to increased domestic production, China will overtake the US as the world's largest importer of crude oil," MCTL stated.