Diesel prices fall, snapping five weeks of gains

A five-week stretch of gains in diesel prices came to an end this week, with the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) reporting this week that the average price of diesel dropped 2.7 cents to $2.917 per gallon.

Over the five week period between February 2 and March 9, diesel prices dropped a cumulative 11.3 cents, and on an annual basis the current price per gallon is down $1.086 compared to the same week a year ago.

The five weeks of increasing prices marked the longest stretch of weekly increases, going back to the five-week period ending February 24, 2014, when prices headed up a cumulative 14.4 cents.

A recent Logistics Management reader survey found that nearly 75 percent of the roughly 100 surveyed respondents said they do not expect a material increase in the form of higher fuel surcharges in the coming months, with the difference split between those whom said they felt fuel surcharges would increase or that they were unsure.

But, conversely, another 55.4 percent indicated that they planned to raise or adjust their freight budgets to cover higher than budgeted fuel prices should fuel prices continue to head up going forward.

As for how much freight budgets would need to head up, the results varied with: 51 percent saying between 1-5 percent; 32.7 percent saying between 6-10 percent; 6.1 percent saying 11-15 percent; 4.1 percent saying 16-20 percent; 2 percent saying between 21-50 percent, and 4.1 percent saying 100 percent.

The Wall Street Journal reported that oil was trading at $42.77 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in April fell 2.5% to $42.77 a barrel, with prices now at a six-year low. The article explained that “signs continued to mount that oil supplies are overwhelming demand, prompting investors to send the price of U.S.-traded crude to a six-year low.”