Fuel price rises are being announced again in Hungary, with unprecedented increases at gas stations. The price of fuel has been rising for a week and a half, after two months of decline.
A recent data release by fuel price monitoring website Holtankoljak.hu shows that prices at petrol stations will continue to rise on Tuesday, breaking the pattern of the usual schedule. Normally, the new prices should come into force on Wednesday. Not only is this unusual, but this announcement means that there will be two consecutive days of price changes at gas stations, following today’s increase of HUF 2 for petrol and HUF 8 for diesel.
It has just been revealed that petrol will now cost HUF 3 more, and diesel HUF 7 more the following day. The average price for petrol from Tuesday will be:
- HUF 598 (EUR 1.51 / 1 EUR=396 HUF) per liter for 95 petrol
- HUF 613 per liter for diesel.
The current price is HUF 596 and HUF 609, which will remain the same until Monday midnight. According to Világgazdasaág, there is now a psychological barrier between the typical prices of petrol and diesel. The former is still priced below HUF 600, at HUF 595, while the latter has already crossed the HUF 600 threshold and costs around HUF 605.
Hungarian fuel prices have clearly started to rise in the last week and a half. This is particularly disturbing because for about two months, the opposite trend has been taking place. Since mid-April, a massive price cut at domestic pumps has started, partly due to government action. On April 17, the average price of 95 petrol was HUF 650 per liter and that of diesel HUF 647, meaning that since then, both petrol and diesel have become around HUF 50 cheaper.
Even so, with the newly announced fuel price hike, the wholesale price of petrol and diesel has risen by HUF 69 and HUF 50 per liter respectively from January until now, although HUF 41 is due to the mandatory excise duty increase in January. Apart from this, petrol prices have risen by HUF 28 and diesel by HUF 9. After the increase of around HUF 50-70 per liter, an average 50-liter tank of fuel costs HUF 2500-3500 more now than in December last year.
