At A Glance
- As announced by the oil firms, the price of diesel products will be on P0.95 per rollback; while gasoline products will have a leaner reduction of P0.60 per liter; and P1.15 per liter for kerosene.<br>
By MYRNA M. VELASCO
Consumers can enjoy temporary relief in their pockets this week as the price of petroleum products will be on downtrend due to softening of prices in the world market.
As announced by the oil firms, the price of diesel products will be on P0.95 per rollback; while gasoline products will have a leaner reduction of P0.60 per liter.
For kerosene, which is a vital commodity being used as a base product for the aviation industry, this will be pared by a heftier P1.15 per liter, according to the pricing adjustment advisories of the oil firms.
The industry players that already sent notices on their price cuts effective Tuesday (April 16) had been Shell Pilipinas Corporation, Seaoil, Cleanfuel, PetroGazz, Chevron and PTT Philippines; while their competitor-firms are all anticipated to follow.
This week’s decline in prices had followed four weeks of successive price hikes which squeezed consumers’ pockets last month; and those also made a dent on the earning capacity of public transport drivers.
However, market watchers noted that the price reduction may not last long as international prices started climbing back anew since Friday (July 12) – and if that will be sustained in trading days ahead, anticipations are high that prices may rise again next week.
Another factor seen exerting pressure on prices is the expected enforcement of interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve, which was stirred by the lower inflation data posted by that ‘super power economy’ this month.
There are also industry assumptions that price softening could be prompted by the recent projection of the International Energy Agency (IEA) on demand weakness due to slowdown in global economic growth.
In particular, the IEA stated that the economic growth of China could be seen tapering off, hence, that mainly precipitated its outlook on lower oil demand for 2025.
The up and down swing of prices will continue to be felt by Filipino consumers, given the country’s very heavy dependency on petroleum imports to meet its requirements.