TOKYO: Japan's total oil product sales fell 4 percent in June from a year earlier, declining for the fifth month as slumping fuel oil sales outweighed higher consumption of gasoline and naphtha.
June petroleum products sales in the world's third biggest oil user totaled 86.5 million barrels last month, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) said on Wednesday, the lowest overall monthly volume in over 2 years.
Sales of B, C-type fuel oil, which count power firms among their users, tumbled by more than a quarter as utilities continued to ramp up purchases of cheaper thermal coal to replace oil use that jumped following the Fukushima nuclear crisis.
Demand for gasoline, which makes up over a fifth of fuel use in Japan, increased 1.4 percent in June as hotter summer weather caused drivers hit the roads with their air conditioning cranked up, limiting the fuel efficiency of their vehicles.
Naphtha consumption rose 2.6 percent for the month as domestic production of ethylene, used to make plastic, jumped more than 10 percent in June.
Japan oil sales dip 4% in June
