Petrol, price boom does not stop motorists: consumption up 9.5% in March

The fuel cost boom in March, the first affected by the oil shocks due to the war in Iran, did not provoke the reaction one would have expected at petrol stations. In fact, petrol consumption increased in Italia. And not even by a little: almost 10%.

The data come from the Ministry of the Environment. The first are those relating to petrol prices: 1.765 euro per litre during the month, i.e. 6.77% more than in February. This, as mentioned, did not lead to a drop in consumption, as recommended, in fact, by both the European Union and the International Energy Agency. In March, 748,000 tonnes of petrol were consumed, 9.5% more than the 683,000 tonnes consumed in February (a figure also very close to March 2025).

The prices shown above take into account the cut in fuel excise duty implemented by the government in the second half of March. Precisely the effect of that discount of 24.4 cents per litre, according to the Union of Energy for Mobility (Unem), has 'contained the possible reduction in sales due to the price rise and has even encouraged "cross-border" sales in border areas'. It is no coincidence, in fact, that prices in the Province of Bolzano are among the highest since the beginning of the escalation.

In addition to the executive's fiscal intervention, mention should be made of the increase in hybrid car registrations, which reached a market share of more than 50 per cent in March.

Slightly different is the situation for diesel. The price rose by 16.85% to EUR 1.987 per litre in March, dampening demand, albeit slightly. Diesel decreased by 0.5% (-10 thousand tonnes), with a 3.5% growth on the network (+42 thousand tonnes) and a 7.1% collapse on the off-trade (-63 thousand tonnes), i.e. sold outside traditional roadside distributors