While drivers can celebrate gasoline prices that are significantly lower than last year this holiday season, U.S. retailers are also seeing a year-to-year increase in gross rack-to-retail margins ahead of Christmas, OPIS data show.
The national average price of regular unleaded gasoline was $3.0415/gal Monday morning, according to OPIS data, nearly 2.8% lower than the average $3.128/gal seen on the same day last year. Prices are also lower than the $3.0961/gal seen on this date in 2022 and the $3.2927/gal in 2021.
Prices, however, are significantly higher than the $2.2474/gal average on this date in 2020, when gasoline prices were still recovering from lows during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The national average gross rack-to-retail margin was 39.6cts/gal, 6.7% higher than the 37.2cts/gal retailers were seeing last year.
Margins were 0.9ct/gal higher than a week ago, though they have fallen nearly 3cts/gal from recent highs seen at the end of last week.
The stronger margins will help make up for weaker fuel sales. Average same-store sales volumes across the U.S. are year-to-date running 4.9% behind the same period in 2023, according to the latest OPIS DemandPro data, which is based on weekly surveys of more than 30,000 retailers nationwide.
OPIS divides the U.S. into eight separate regions, and average gasoline margins on Monday were higher than last year in five of the eight.
Average margins were highest on the Pacific Coast at 57.6cts/gal, up 0.28cts from last year. Margins in other regions were 52cts/gal in the West (-0.001cts), 48.9cts/gal in the Great Lakes (+12.6cts/gal), 40.5cts/gal in the Midwest (+4.3cts/gal), 37.5cts/gal in the Northeast (-6.4cts/gal), 34.6cts in the Southwest (+7.8cts), 34.4cts/gal in the Rockies (-9.3cts) and 30.6cts in the Southeast (+0.008cts).
Fuel demand typically is among the highest all winter during the holiday week and this year is expected to see a strong surge over recent weeks. AAA is forecasting 107 million Americans will travel by car during the period from Dec. 21 to Jan. 1. That is 2.4% higher than last year but 1% off the record 108 million who took to the roads prior to the pandemic in 2019.
This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
-- Reporting by Steve Cronin, scronin@opisnet.com; Editing by Michael Kelly, mkelly@opisnet.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 23, 2024 16:03 ET (21:03 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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