The Hindu Business Line : Retail diesel sales down in Feb

RETAIL diesel consumption witnessed negative growth during February 2005 against the year-ago period, though the aggregate sale during the first 11 months of the fiscal reflected a positive trend.

The negative growth came as PSU sales during the month was put at 22,39,000 tonnes, down 8.8 per cent from 24,53,800 tonnes sold in February 2004.

However, last month saw higher direct sale of diesel at 645,700 tonnes against 638,700 tonnes earlier.

Thus, the total sale of diesel during the month was at 28,84,700 tonnes, down 6.7 per cent from 30,92,500 tonnes.

Industry analysts attributed this to a number of factors, the primary one being the extra day that February 2004 had.

Another reason cited was the increasing number of public transport vehicles, including buses and autorickshaws, switching over from diesel to CNG.

"An extra day's diesel sale makes a major difference, as the average daily sale of diesel is around 60,000-65,000 tonnes. Also, there was low agricultural demand in February owing to unseasonal rains in the northern part of the country," said a senior official with an oil PSU.

"Moreover, this February also witnessed dealers and customers across the country maintain a lower inventory in anticipation of duty cuts in the Union Budget."

Meanwhile, the April-February retail diesel sale during the current fiscal was at 2,74,72,800 tonnes, up 4.7 per cent from 2,62,41,100 tonnes in the comparable period in 2003-04.

The total sale of diesel during the period this fiscal was 3,47,34,100 tonnes against 3,34,05,900 tonnes earlier.

The retail diesel sale for the full 2003-04 fiscal was 2,92,56,000 tonnes.

According to an industry analyst, the current month's sale trend indicated a firm trend and seemed on track to pull alongside, if not better the sale of March 2004, at 30,15,000 tonnes.

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