Relevant data
Since 2020, prices for fuels and lubricants for personal transport in the EU have shown significant volatility. Annual inflation rates were negative in May 2020 (-19.5%), but began to rise sharply in 2021, reaching +33.4% in November of that year. The peak came in June 2022 (+39.2%) and then began to slow down, turning negative in 2023. These variations reflected the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In June 2023, the fuel and lubricant inflation rate stood at a low of -15.7%, but volatility has become less pronounced in recent months with smaller monthly price changes. This has been the case in 2024. In August 2024, fuel and lubricant prices were 6.1% lower than in August 2023.
If we focus specifically on diesel and gasoline since 2020, the data shows that prices last August were 7.4% and 5.5% lower than the same month last year, respectively. Since 2020, the largest price increase was seen in June 2022, +45.2% for diesel and +35.7% for gasoline. While diesel price increases were generally lower than gasoline prices, diesel prices rose faster than gasoline prices between September 2021 and March 2023. Starting this month, diesel price increases remained below gasoline prices, however, the situation reversed again in June, July and August of this year.
Most EU countries record negative inflation rates for fuels and lubricants
In August 2024, 24 EU countries reported negative annual change rates or lower prices than in the same month of the previous year. Sweden (-20.7%) recorded the biggest drop, followed by Belgium (-8.9%) and Slovakia (-8.4%). Meanwhile, Slovenia (-2.0%) and Poland (-1.7%) recorded the smallest price declines. In Malta, prices remained unchanged, and Romania (+2.4%) and Ireland (+4.0%) saw an increase in the annual rate of change.
More information at EUROSTAT
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