UK supermarkets have experienced a “significant” increase in their margins on petrol and diesel since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, according to recent data from the RAC.
Before the conflict, the major supermarkets, dominating the country’s fuel retailing, were making a margin of just under 5p (4.7p) per litre on fuel, with 3.7p for petrol and 5.7p for diesel.
However, these margins have now more than doubled to 10p (9.3p for petrol and 10.8p for diesel), according to the RAC report.
The RAC’s Fuel Watch data for 2022 indicates that the margin on supermarket petrol reached nearly 11p (10.8p) per litre, briefly hitting 20p in the weeks after a new pump price high of 191.5p was recorded on 3 July, coinciding with the soaring cost of oil.
Moreover, this year, supermarkets have enjoyed an average margin of 15p on diesel, as wholesale prices decreased but were not fully passed on to drivers at the forecourts.
In May, the supermarket margin reached a high of 23p per litre, as the wholesale price of diesel remained below the wholesale cost for three months from the end of March.
Comparing the data to previous years, back in 2016, the supermarket margin on a litre of fuel was 2.3p, which steadily increased to nearly 6p (5.7p) in 2019 and remained at that level during the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, in 2022, the RAC Fuel Watch data showed a 54% increase to over 9p per litre, with the average margin approaching 11p this year.
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams remarked, “Lower fuel prices played a key role in reducing inflation to 7.9% last month. However, our data clearly indicates that inflation could have been even lower if supermarkets had lowered their pump prices in line with cheaper wholesale costs.”
ELN has reached out to Tesco, Asda and Morrisons for comment – Morrisons declined to comment.
