Japan Pump Price Down for 8 Weeks in Row

Tokyo, Jan. 7 (Jiji Press)–The average retail price of regular gasoline in Japan as of Monday fell 2.3 yen from a week before to 155.7 yen per liter, down for the eighth straight week, the industry ministry said Wednesday. The average price reached its lowest level in four years and seven months, thanks to bigger government subsidies given to oil wholesalers ahead of the abolition of the provisional gasoline tax surcharge on Dec. 31 and lower crude oil prices. Despite a misunderstanding among some consumers that pump prices would go down on the very day of the surcharge abolition, “there was no major confusion that day,” such as people rushing to gas stations, an industry source said. The average price fell in 46 of Japan’s 47 prefectures, to 147.7 yen in Aichi, the lowest, and to 167.9 yen in Kagoshima, the highest. It leveled off in Kochi. The Oil Information Center of the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan predicted that retail gasoline prices will move tightly next week. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]