The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has released a recap on Australia’s petrol prices for the June quarter, with lower retail prices reflected a similar fall in international prices.
According to the ACCC, retail petrol prices were lower in all capital cities and on average across regional locations.
Quarterly average retail petrol prices across the five largest cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth) were 175.7 cents per litre (cpl), a decrease of 6.5 cpl from the previous quarter. Among the five largest cities, prices decreased the most in Brisbane (by 14.4 cpl).
The decrease in average retail prices mainly reflected lower international prices for refined petrol (largely driven by international crude oil prices). A higher average AUD-USD exchange rate also helped make the cost of international refined petrol relatively less expensive in Australian dollar terms.
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Crude oil prices predominantly trended downward in the quarter, as trade tensions impacted financial and commodity markets. Another influence was the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other crude oil producing countries including Russia (together, OPEC+) agreeing to a further unwind of production cuts.
“Crude oil prices jumped in mid-June following impacts from the Israel-Iran conflict, but they settled and decreased toward the end of June,” ACCC Commissioner Brakey says.
“The jump in international prices contributed to average retail petrol prices across the five largest cities briefly moving higher in early July, before reducing shortly after.”
Across the five largest cities, seven-day rolling average retail petrol prices increased to 180.6 cpl at the end of the quarter. By the end of July average prices decreased to 168.3 cpl.
Petrol gross indicative retail differences were 16.4 cpl across the five largest cities in the June quarter, an increase of 2.0 cpl from the previous quarter.
In the diesel market, retail prices also dropped on all capital cities by 8.5 cpl from the previous quarter.
Quarterly average retail diesel prices decreased in all capital cities. Diesel prices dropped the most in Hobart (by 13.3 cpl), followed by Sydney and Melbourne (by 10.4 cpl).
Retail diesel prices generally follow international diesel benchmark prices, which accounted for the largest component of retail diesel prices.
A key takeaway was that average retail petrol prices were lower in the smaller capital cities and on average across regional locations, with retail petrol prices also decreasing in Canberra, Hobart and Darwin.
Across more than 190 regional locations that the ACCC monitors, average retail petrol prices (in aggregate) were 179.2 cpl, a decrease of 5.1 cpl from the previous quarter.
“We were pleased to see lower prices across most locations in Australia in the quarter, providing some relief to motorists,” Brakey says.
The ACCC has moved to welcome Victoria’s fuel price transparency scheme.
“We encourage motorists to shop around for lower fuel prices as there is often a range of prices available,” Brakey says.
“We have long been an advocate of fuel prices transparency schemes. This fuel price reporting and subsequent publishing will give motorists in Victoria access to near real-time fuel price data.”
Victoria is the last jurisdiction in Australia to establish a fuel price transparency scheme.
For the entire financial year, both retail petrol and diesel prices were lower in the 2024-25 financial year, down eight per cent from 2023-24 for petrol and nine per cent for diesel.
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