[TusharK]

Fuel prices have skyrocketed in recent times. But despite petrol retailing at over Rs. 100 per litre, sales have topped the pre-pandemic level for the first time in 17 months.



When it comes to price, diesel isn't too far behind either. Yet, diesel sales stood just 11% short of the pandemic year in July.

According to market data, state-owned fuel retailers sold 3.5% more petrol in July 2021 compared to the same period in 2019. Diesel consumption rose to 89% of the pre-pandemic level.

Sales in July rose by nearly 9% compared to the previous month, while diesel sales were down by about 1%. Compared to last year, petrol and diesel sales were 17% and 12% higher, respectively.

Source: TOI

Link to Team-BHP News

[Shreyans_Jain]

So is this sale in terms of rupees or in terms of volume (liters)? The article conveniently does not mention. Won’t be surprised if this is in terms of gross revenue, which obviously has to be higher since fuel prices are a good 40% higher than pre pandemic levels.

[PetrolheadRup]

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

So is this sale in terms of rupees or in terms of volume (liters)? The article conveniently does not mention. Won’t be surprised if this is in terms of gross revenue, which obviously has to be higher since fuel prices are a good 40% higher than pre pandemic levels.

It is in terms of weight (tonnes). From another article on the same topic:-

Daily sales of gasoline rose to 76,500 tonnes in July, a jump of about 3.6% over the corresponding 2019 period and 5.7% over June this year, preliminary industry data showed on Friday.

Daily gasoil sales, which account for about two-fifths of India's overall refined fuel consumption and is directly linked to industrial activity in Asia's third-largest economy, was about 10.9% less than the same period of 2019, the data showed. It was about 3.5% lower than daily gasoil sales in June.

Source: https://www.livemint.com/industry/en...822232572.html

[prajwalmr62]

Originally Posted by TusharK

despite petrol retailing at over Rs. 100 per litre, sales have topped the pre-pandemic level for the first time in 17 months

This sentence makes me feel so uneasy. It sounds like "despite vegetable oils costing 200 per litre, people are buying oil as before".

[Bibendum90949]

Originally Posted by TusharK

Fuel prices have skyrocketed in recent times. But despite petrol retailing at over Rs. 100 per litre, sales have topped the pre-pandemic level for the first time in 17 months.

By the way, do we have an option not to consume fuel even if prices are at 120 ₹? The larger public still have to commute for their daily needs - be it to work, business or personal travel. So there's not much to conclude when they write "despite petrol retailing at ₹ 100, sales have topped the pre pandemic level"

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

So is this sale in terms of rupees or in terms of volume (liters)?

It indicates volume since they've used the word consumption in the article.

[Turbohead]

Is this supposed to be good news? After all, more and more people prefer private transport to public transport and I don't know how to conclusively say that this is a sign of the economy coming back to life.

[IamNikhil]

Originally Posted by TusharK

Fuel prices have skyrocketed in recent times. But despite petrol retailing at over Rs. 100 per litre, sales have topped the pre-pandemic level for the first time in 17 months.

If petrol touches 200/litre too, a large part of the population would not have the option of saying NO to it. Actually, beyond a point, all of us get conditioned to paying the higher prices after cribbing for the first few days; it becomes a way of life.

Let's wait for some upcoming elections; the Petroleum Ministry will then conveniently "unofficially nudge" the oil companies to freeze the price hike. No government, irrespective of the political dispensation actually gives a fig for the public, because they know that we will scream and cry hoarse at the start, but eventually fall in line.

[gkveda]

I think most of us are not focusing on the topic of discussion here. The point of discussion here is, fuel sales have increased to pre-covid times. This means, people have started coming out of home and started driving very normally like prior to covid.

This is really cause for concern since covid is still there. More and more waves are going to hit us with lesser duration gap. Definitely not a good sign.

[Gansan]

The pandemic itself is a reason for that. A lot of people are avoiding public transport for their daily commute. Look at two wheeler sales figures. A lot of people still don't prefer EVs and buy petrol bikes and scooters.

Certain things are "inelastic" in demand. Such as food grains. Whatever be the price, people will buy. But that does not mean all is well with the economy.

[lsjey]

I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing.
-- By Socrates.


The only fact in this news is that consumption of petrol is slightly more than pre-pandemic levels. The rest are just speculation.


Humans always have this tendency of having to build a story/narrative around every thing they get to know of. And Journalists capitalize on this and make arm-chair experts speculate on the reasons. These reasons most often than not are wrong. But they help sell the content and bring in revenues for news outlets.


If we wait for a few days/months, why[s] will eventually emerge. But sadly Humans will never pay any attention to this though. They want instant gratification.


While this is frustrating, endearingly, this is what makes us all Humans.


Regards,
lsjey

[funkykar]

Quite a shame these fuel prices! A good amount of people depend on vehicle usage for their daily life and many depend on it for livelihood also. The fear of crowds making people use their private vehicles more than cab/bus/metro/trains. The extremely expensive fuel during a pandemic is rubbing salt to wounds. If more amount of fuel was sold, it indeed translates more leeching by the government.

[warrioraks]

This news would be music to government’s ears. Should give them enough ammo to go for next round of tax hikes on fuel at the time of their choosing!

[Chetan_Rao]

Has to be seen in conjunction with other consumer price trends for the full picture.

People can't use vehicles any less or make them more efficient beyond a point, but quite a few, esp. those with limited disposable income and capacity to absorb additional cost, would need to offset this expense against other essential needs at some point.

When such a point might arrive and for what proportion of the consumer base, would be an interesting trend to watch for.

[Aravind_M92]

If the volumes have recovered, why is the price still being at all time high!?
I remember reading an article where it stated the tax collected were to be used for vaccine production and procurement mainly. It seems govt has made a whole lot of money to support this cause as well. Now why can't they help it's citizens to avail some benefits since the economic growth is also back on track.

I believe once the possibility of money making is exploited, there is no going back

[AnishRanjan]

This is not good news at all rather pointless. Peoples incomes have nose dived during the pandemic and this will not help recover the economy. All that is happening is people are being forced to spend more money on fuel and they are cutting other expenditures. I'm sure that's the case with most of us. Don't know what this government is thinking and where all this is heading. They need to put money back in peoples hand to revive the economy. They are doing the opposite.