June sees a dip in diesel sales as monsoon arrives

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

diesel sales dropped in June as demand in the agri sector was cut and vehicular movement reduced. Preliminary industry data, accessed by PTI showed that demand for diesel, fell 3.7 per cent to 7.1 million tonnes in June compared to the year-ago period. Diesel, the most consumed fuel in the country, accounting for about two-fifths of the total demand, had soared 6.7 per cent and 9.3 per cent in April and May, respectively.

However, reasons being agriculture demand picked up and cars yanked up air-conditioning to beat summer heat. In May, 7.09 million tonnes of diesel was consumed, leading to month-on-month sales staying almost flat.Petrol sales, on the other hand, rose 3.4 per cent to 2.9 million tonnes in June 2023 compared to the year-ago period. The data, however, showed that sales were unchanged month-on-month.

While petrol and diesel sales have been on the rise since the second half of March due to a pick-up in industrial and agriculture activity, the arrival of monsoon has cooled temperatures and reduced demand for running diesel gensets to irrigate fields. Further, there has been a cut down in consumption of diesel in tractors and trucks in the first half of June. Petrol consumption during June was higher than the pandemic and pre-pandemic months.

This year, consumption was 33.5 per cent more than COVID-marred June 2021 and 20.6 per cent more than pre-pandemic June 2019. So was the case with diesel where the consumption was up 30 per cent over June 2021 and 6.5 per cent higher than in June 2019. Meanwhile, jet fuel (ATF) demand soared 6 per cent to 587,300 tonne in June compared to the same period last year, as the aviation sector was booming with summer travellers.