Japan's retail regular gasoline prices have fallen to their lowest on records going back to 2004, a research body said on Thursday, as crude oil prices have dived more than $100 since hitting all-time highs in mid-July. The average pump price of regular gasoline in Japan was 110.6 yen ($1.22) per litre ($4.62 a US gallon) on Thursday.
Down for the 20th straight week and marking the lowest since the Oil Information Center started taking the survey in June 2004. The data was released a day later than usual due to a national holiday on Tuesday.
The latest price marks a 40.2 percent decline from the record 185.1 yen hit on August 4. From this autumn several domestic refiners began revising domestic wholesale gasoline and other oil prices on a weekly basis to allow spot market prices to reflect trends earlier. Price adjustments had previously been done once a month based on changes in crude oil import and other costs.