Since the government first implemented the oil price cap on the 13th of last month, gasoline and diesel sales at gas stations increased for two straight weeks from the prior week. However, they have fallen this month.
On the 16th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources released "Gas station gasoline and diesel sales from the fourth week of February to the second week of April." As some argued that gasoline and diesel consumption actually rose after the government implemented the oil price cap, the government issued data to refute that claim.
According to the data, gasoline and diesel sales rose 3.3% (21,377 kiloliters) from 651,177 kiloliters (kL) in the fourth week of February, when the Middle East crisis occurred, to 672,554 kL in the first week of March. After that, in the second week of March, when the government first implemented the oil price cap, sales were 609,723 kL, down 9.3% (62,831 kL) from the previous week.
However, for the next two straight weeks, oil product sales increased from the prior week. They rose to 638,068 kL in the third week of March, up 4.6% (28,345 kL) from the previous week. In the fourth week of March, they were 731,000 kL, up 14.6% (92,932). In the fourth week of March, they also increased 9.0% (60,147 kL) from a year earlier.
However, starting in April, the pace of sales growth slowed. Sales in the first week of April were 588,990 kL, down 19.4% (142,010 kL) from the previous week. Sales in the second week of April were 593,673 kL, up 0.8% (4,683 kL).
Yang Gi-uk, Deputy Minister for Industrial Resource Security at the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI), emphasized that recent sales have decreased compared with last year. Yang said, "Comparing gas station sales from the third week of March to the second week of April last year and this year, gasoline fell 1.8% and diesel fell 7.6%." As of the second week of April, sales were down 8.8% from the fourth week of February.