Supermarket fuel margins in 2023 year-to-date have been higher than previous years on a percentage basis, a new report from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has found. However, the CMA figures show that supermarket fuel margins are slightly down on 2022, on a pence per litre (ppl) basis, due to lower wholesale costs. The CMA has also seen fewer cases of non-supermarket retailers being cheaper than the supermarket average compared to late 2022 and early 2023. Within the group of supermarkets, the traditional price-leader, Asda, has more consistently been the cheapest supermarket provider, on average, across both types of fuel, from end-May to end-September. In its market study final report, it found that following wholesale price peaks, there was evidence of feathering of prices (i.e., retail prices falling more slowly than the norm compared to wholesale prices), particularly in relation to diesel in the first part of 2023.Given the recent wholesale price increases, the CMA says it will be watching carefully to see if there is any evidence of feathering practices emerging as wholesale prices stabilise or fall.
The Editor’s View
