The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) latest petrol monitoring report has found that average retail petrol prices in 2020-21 in the five largest cities were the lowest in 22 years.
The Report looks at petrol prices in the 2020-21 financial year and the June quarter of 2021.
Chair of the ACCC, Rod Sims said low average petrol prices in the past financial year had come after prices reached record lows at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The COVID-19 restrictions on travel and economic activity in Australia imposed in mid-March 2020 meant there was significantly less petrol purchased from retail sites,” Mr Sims said.
“The pandemic has had an enormous impact on demand for petrol in Australia going back to March last year, and this has influenced retail prices and gross retail margins.”
He said that while the June quarter 2021 results showed only a relatively small drop in demand for petrol, millions of Australians had been in lockdown since the end of June.
“We will see the impact that’s had on fuel sales volumes in our September quarter 2021 Report,” Mr Sims said.
“While the 2020-21 annual figures were low, prices started to increase in the second half of the year,” he said.
“The Report shows higher international refined petrol prices drove average retail petrol prices higher in the June quarter 2021.”
Mr Sims said consumers could still make savings by shopping around “and we hope that the increased availability of Government and commercial fuel price apps and websites is making people more aware of the range of prices available”.
