UK DATA: Fuel sales hit one-month low on school holidays

Quantum Commodity Intelligence - Average diesel and gasoline fuel sales at filling stations across Great Britain slipped to a one-month low in the week to February 20, snapping six consecutive weeks of gains, as schools broke for the half-term holiday, official data showed.

Diesel sales at the average filling station fell 1.3% to 9,177 litres per day for the third week of February, reaching levels last seen at the end of January when the UK emerged from its Omicron wave.

That is up from the 7,717 litres sold in the same week last year – when half-term came a week earlier, but when the UK was in a strict lockdown.

Sales were down 11.5% from the corresponding week in 2020, before the pandemic broke out.

Gasoline sales averaged at 5,819 litres during the week, down 3.1% from a week earlier and at last seen during the first week of January, the data showed.

It compares to 3,921 litres sold during the same week in 2021, and 7,189 litres sold in 2020.

The slowdown in sales came despite further easing of Covid-19 measures with testing and isolating requirements all scrapped by the UK government ahead of the mid-term school holidays in the UK.