Diesel price down
Shipping cargo in California is getting cheaper this summer as diesel prices in the Golden State continue to drop. AAA says diesel prices a year ago were an average of $5.73 as of August 24,2023.This August 24 the cost is down to $4.92- down 81 cents dropping 12 cents from late July 2024.
Nationwide the average diesel price decreased by 1.6 cents, settling at $3.688 per gallon as of Aug. 19, according to the Energy Information Administration. This marks the sixth consecutive week of declines, with prices cumulatively dropping by 17.7 cents over this period. The current diesel price is 70.1 cents lower than it was at this time in 2023.
Transportation is a huge factor in food prices that appear to be dropping this summer as well. Food price inflation in the US remained unchanged at 2.2% in July 2024 compared to the previous month, as prices were unchanged for both food at home (1.1%) and food away from home (4.1%). On a monthly basis, food prices rose by 0.2% in July, after rising by 0.2% in the prior month. Food inflation was double that a year ago.
Reduced demand for petroleum
Petroleum prices in general are down on reduced demand and high production. This year the U.S. is pumping record amounts of petroleum
.“We’ve never produced more oil than we’re producing now,” Andrew Gross, a spokesperson for AAA says. That record production comes as U.S. demand has tapered — from 9.8 million barrels of gasoline per day in recent years to barely 9 million per day now
Oil analyst Tom Kloza points to several factors to explain the change in an NPR news article.: Remote work means fewer commuters. There are an estimated 3.3 million electric vehicles on U.S. roads, more than twice as many as in 2021. More EVs have helped keep demand for gasoline in check, although Kloza notes that the effect is relatively modest, with every million EVs sold reducing demand by about 22,000 barrels a day. And Kloza also notes the gradually aging U.S. population — older Americans, he says, “tend to drive a lot less.”