I’ve noticed this for as long as I’ve cared about gas prices but am only now getting around to asking, so I’m not specifically talking about any one period of time. Why are diesel prices seemingly so divorced from unleaded prices? I understand the concept of a price difference, but sometimes that price difference is $1 or $1.50, sometimes it’s 50 cents, and I’ve even seen the rare example where it’s cheaper than unleaded. Are the same forces acting on unleaded prices not acting on diesel? Why are they so independent of each other?
EDIT: I should specify that my experience is in the USA. It seems prices track much more closely in the EU/UK.
In: Economics
Gasoline = demand from people driving their personal vehicles
Diesel = demand from industry moving goods or operatig machienary
For example, I live in an agricultural area of the country. Diesel prices rise around harvest time when farmers are running tractors and hauling their grain to market. Gasoline prices rise around the holidays when people are driving around do visit aunt Dorthy 6 hours away.
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