By Nidhi Verma
NEW DELHI, July 1 (Reuters) - India's auto fuel demand
picked up in June as economic activity accelerated after the
easing of pandemic-related lockdowns, preliminary sales data
showed on Thursday.
State-run refiners sold 2.12 million tonnes of gasoline last
month, up 29.35% from May and about 5.7% from the year-earlier
period.
Sales of gasoil, which accounts for about two-fifths of
India's overall refined fuel consumption and is directly linked
to industrial activity in Asia's third-largest economy, rose
18.5% from May to 5.36 million tonnes, but were down 1.84% from
June 2020.
Compared to June 2019, demand for gasoline and gasoil last
month slipped 10.4% and 18.8%, respectively.
Fuel demand in India would recover to pre-pandemic levels by
the end of this year after being hit by a deadly second wave of
coronavirus, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on
Tuesday.
In May, local fuel consumption, a proxy for oil demand,
slumped to its lowest since last August as lockdowns and travel
restrictions in several states stalled mobility and muted
economic activity.
State-run Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp
and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd own about 90%
of India's retail fuel outlets.
Below is a table of India' preliminary daily fuel sales data
with volumes in million tonnes.
Product June 2021 % chg % chg %chg vs
mth/mth yr/yr June 2019
Gasoline 2.12 29.35 5.66 -10.39
Gasoil 5.36 18.51 -1.84 -18.84
Jet Fuel 0.23 -4.2 9.86 -61.75
Liquefied 2.24 6.44 9.52 26.31
Petroleum Gas
(Reporting by Nidhi Verma, Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)