Petrol, diesel sales soar in June

India's petrol and diesel sales soared in June on the back of the start of the cropping season, summer travels and overall pick up in economic activity, according to preliminary industry data.

The most common fuel in the country, diesel, saw sales jump 35.2 per cent year-on-year to 7.38 million tons in June.

This was 10.5 per cent more than sales in pre-pandemic June 2019 and 33.3 per cent more than June 2020. It was 11.5 per cent higher than 6.7 million tons of consumption during May this year.

Industry sources blamed the pick up in diesel demand -- which first rose above pre-pandemic levels in April -- to higher consumption by the agriculture and transport sectors.

State-owned fuel retailers, which control almost 90 per cent of the market, sold 2.8 million barrels of petrol in June, which was 29 per cent higher than the same period last year when a devastating second wave of COVID 19 wreaked havoc on the economy.

In June 2020, consumption was 36.7 per cent higher than demand and 16.5 per cent more than 2.4 million tons of sales in the pre-COVID June 2019. As per the preliminary data, month-on-month sales were up 3.1 per cent.

Consumption in June was helped by the low base effect of last year, according to sources.

Since May, when annual summer vacations resulted in higher travel, consumption has gone up.

After a four month hiatus, consumption fell due to a 10 per litre hike in petrol and diesel prices in April.

The government had imposed a nationwide lock-down on March 25, 2020 to control the spread of coronaviruses. After two months, the complete lockdown halted mobility and crippled business.

Sales of cooking gas, whose prices have gone up by Rs 103.50 per cylinder since March, went up by a marginal 0.23 per cent to 2.26 million tons in June.

This was 9.6 per cent higher than the consumption in June 2020, when the government gave free cooking gas to the poor to tide over the hardships of the lock-in.

LPG consumption was 27.9 per cent more than June 2019 demand and 6 per cent higher than 1.77 million tons of sales in June 2021.

ATF sales of jet fuel increased to 535,900 tons as the aviation sector opened up after two years.

ATF consumption was 150.1 per cent more than June 2020, but 12.9 per cent less than the pre-COVID sales of 615,400 tons in June 2019. The month-on-month sales were up 6 per cent.