Japan’s Gasoline Sales Fall Most Since 1952 on Prices

By Megumi Yamanaka

Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Japan, the world’s third-largest oil user, said gasoline sales in the country fell the most in more than half a century as record prices prompted motorists to drive less.

Sales fell 4.2 percent in 2008 to 57.3 million kiloliters (15.1 billion gallons), the biggest drop since the trade ministry started collecting data in 1952. Sales of oil-based fuels including gasoline fell 5.3 percent, the ministry said in a report in Tokyo today.

Gasoline consumption has been falling since 2006, and the slump accelerated last year as oil touched a record $147.27 a barrel in July, driving up pump prices. An unprecedented collapse in overseas demand led Japanese manufacturers to slash production by a record 9.6 percent last month, deepening contractions in petroleum demand as companies turned off generators and shipped fewer goods.

Japan’s oil imports fell for a third consecutive month in December, declining 6.5 percent to 20.5 million kiloliters, the ministry said in the same report. LNG imports were 6.4 million metric tons, up 3.9 percent from a year earlier, while liquefied petroleum gas purchases fell 6.3 percent to 1.16 million tons. Naphtha imports fell 17 percent to 1.85 million kiloliters.

To contact the reporter on this story: Megumi Yamanaka in Tokyo at myamanaka@bloomberg.net.