The fifth consecutive decline in the benchmark diesel price used for most fuel surcharges is likely the end of the road for this particular downward cycle.
The Department of Energy/Energy Information Administration average weekly retail diesel price dropped 2.1 cents a gallon to $3.476 effective Monday, announced on Tuesday. The five-week decline from $3.639 a gallon on April 7 marks a drop of 16.3 cents a gallon during that time.
But for the declines to continue, they would need to fight back against the headwinds of ultra low sulfur diesel (ULSD) prices on the CME commodity exchange, which have turned sharply higher in just the past five trading days.
ULSD settled Wednesday at $1.9766 a gallon, the third time in the prior four trading days it had settled at less than $2. But since then, it has climbed sharply, settling Monday at $2.1111. At approximately 11:30 a.m. EDT Tuesday, ULSD was up another 3.3 cents, an increase of 1.56%, to $2.1441 a gallon. That number, if it was Tuesday’s settlement, would have been the highest since April 24.
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