Hello.
Whether motoring about town on 2 wheels or 4, I thought it might be interesting to do a quick comparison of prices at the pump. As reported in the economist last month, oil prices have fluctuated massively in the last 18 months and after reaching their incredible highs during the summer of 2008, things have leveled out a little bit these days.
And no one is more thankful than the busy "petrol guzzling" commuter. It wasn't too long ago that oil prices sky-rocked in the summer of 2008, which led to an increase in retail petrol prices at the pumps for consumers around the world. But China, unlike much of the west, played it cool and kept prices stable as food inflation was already making people angry enough at the time. That basically means that while commuters in the United States were bitterly coughing up over US$1.10 per liter, retail petrol prices in China maintained roughly US$0.80 per liter. Yes, there are some benefits to a state run economy.
Needless to say the state run oil companies and refineries took an absolute beating on their balance sheets, and in the stock markets, but the government achieved their goal of maintaining social stability and happy petrol consumers.
Today prices have receded to about half of what they were in summer 2008, and US petrol prices have decreased by over 25% to around US$0.69 per liter, but the Chinese are actually now paying more now for petrol than last summer; ringing in at around US$0.90 per liter. So I am actually paying more at the pump for my petrol than folks in the United States, and I live in a communist country. Imagine that.
Of course this fails to compare with the US$1.85 per liter that German's pay at the pump, but that includes a huge amount of tax. But let's hope Chinese motorists take the petrol price increases in stride, as social stability among China's 8 million new middle class car owners, per year, could be at risk; and yes, there are a few new motorcyclists as well.
As an aside, I have just a few more days left until I get my new residence card and use that to make an application for my license plate and motorcycle drivers license. I hope there will be a slew of much more exciting blogs in the near future; this latest offering was rather dry.
Stay tuned. It can't be boring, it's China.
Ryan Pyle
Photographer / BMW Motorcycle Owner
Location: Shanghai, China
Email: ryan@ryanpyle.com
Website: www.ryanpyle.com
Mobile: +86 137 9521 9650
BMW China: BMWCHINA
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