CAMARILLO, Calif. -- The May 20 U.S. average retail price of regular grade crawled up another 4.85 cents per gallon (CPG) over the past two weeks to $2.3153, according to the most recent Lundberg Survey of approximately 2,500 U.S. gas stations. The pump price increase had been losing steam earlier this month. It would have taken a significant rise in oil prices to keep retail prices climbing—and that's what happened.
Light crude-oil grades rose the equivalent of 7 to 8 CPG, more than the retail price did, so that some remains to be passed through. Wholesale gasoline price jumps from suppliers to retailers have slashed retail margin to barely more than 13 CPG. In PADD 2 Midwest, the average unbranded wholesale price surge from May 6 to May 20 was nearly 23 cents. For the United States as a whole, both branded and unbranded rack price increases were about 14 cents during the same period, as a table at lundbergsurvey.com reveals.
Pressure on retailers to adjust prices higher abounds. The completion of pass-through from higher oil prices through the gasoline supply chain will likely soon pull retail prices up a few more pennies. Robust demand growth is supporting this. The motoring public is now paying nearly 55 CPG more than it was 13 weeks ago, but the current price is a hefty 52.42-cent discount from its year-ago point, a big inspiration for demand.
Camarillo, Calif.-based Lundberg Survey Inc. is an independent market research company specializing in U.S. petroleum marketing and related industries. Click here for previous Lundberg Survey reports in CSPDailyNews.
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