Gas hits 105 yen per liter in sharpest rise since Gulf War

Retail prices of gasoline in Japan averaged 105 yen per liter as of Oct. 10, up 3 yen from a month earlier and the highest since May 1997, the Oil Information Service Center said Monday. The price rise is the second-steepest since the center began compiling data in 1987. The biggest increase was 5 yen in November 1990 as a result of the Persian Gulf War.

Tracking petroleum product prices, the center noted that retail gasoline prices rose as oil companies raised wholesale prices, effective in October, in response to rising crude oil prices.

Average retail prices were 100 yen or higher in all 47 prefectures for the first time in 67 months.

Nara and Okinawa prefectures reported the steepest month-to-month rise, with 4 yen.

The center also said retail prices of kerosene averaged 47.20 yen per liter, up 2.20 yen over a month earlier to a 35-month high.

State watching rise Japan will continue to monitor crude oil prices, a senior International Trade and Industry Ministry official said Monday.

Speaking at a news conference, Katsusada Hirose, a vice minister, said high oil prices have not had any serious impact on the Japanese economy as compared with other industrialized nations.

But Hirose said the government will continue monitoring price fluctuations.

He voiced hope that a U.S. decision to release some of its strategic oil reserves, as well as an international request that oil firms and refiners consider boosting output and distribution of heating oil for the global market, will bear fruit.

The Japan Times: Oct. 24, 2000

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nb20001024a5.htm

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), October 23, 2000