Gasoline Prices

Gasoline has become cheaper.
When I looked at the sign at a gas station in my neighborhood on New Year's Day, regular gasoline was 156 yen per liter.

This is because the provisional tax rate on gasoline was abolished on New Year's Eve.
Since the 25.1 yen that had been added on until then is no longer being charged, it feels like that amount was cleanly deducted from the retail price.

There are regional differences in gasoline prices.
For example, even within Tokyo where I live, there are price differences depending on the area. This is because prices reflect the management policies of each store (or affiliated oil company), the presence of competitors in that area, the turnover rate, and land prices or rent.

There are also price differences when looking at the prefecture level.
For example, as of 16:00 on January 2, 2026, there is a difference of 18.13 yen between Miyazaki Prefecture and Hyogo Prefecture. (The source data is from the efuel economy website. It seems that gasoline prices are aggregated in real-time based on user submissions from across the country.)

This is due to differences in transportation costs.
Crude oil imported from the country of origin is transported to gas stations from refineries (factories that refine crude oil to make petroleum products) and oil terminals (places where refined petroleum products are temporarily stored) located near the ports where it arrives.

Gasoline is highly flammable, so it is treated as a hazardous material. Therefore, gasoline cannot be transported without using special vehicles called tank trucks. Furthermore, the driver operating such a vehicle must not only have a large vehicle driver's license but also hold a Class B Group 4 Hazardous Materials Engineer certification (a national qualification for safely handling flammable liquids such as gasoline, kerosene, and diesel fuel = Class 4 hazardous materials). Therefore, the absolute number of drivers who can operate tank trucks is small.

That is why, as the transportation distance (from the oil terminal to the gas station) increases, labor costs rise, and transportation costs become higher. Furthermore, (under the Cargo Transportation Business Act) the travel time from the transport company's office to the oil terminal is also included in the operating hours, so the further away the transport company capable of tank truck transport is, the more expensive the gasoline transportation costs in that region will be. And the fact that there are no competitors nearby means that the market principles of supply and demand will likely also have an impact there.

Now, with the reduction in driver working hours due to the 2024 problem, it seems unlikely that these market principles will collapse for a while.

In fact, it is highly likely that labor costs will be further added to the selling price in order to secure the labor force of drivers engaged in transportation. However, we consumers (beneficiaries) are in a position where we must accept that.

After all, Adam Smith also said in The Wealth of Nations that 'the quantity of labor is the real measure of the exchangeable value of all commodities.'