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EU Fuel, Lubricants Rise Nearly 21% in Price YOY in April Due to Hormuz Closure

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Fuel and lubricants used in personal transport rose in price by 20.8% by April, compared with the same month of 2025, the EU's statistics agency Eurostat said on Friday.

The increase, most of which took place in the weeks from February to April after the start of conflict in the Middle East, masks that the price of fuel and lubricants was generally falling over the year, Eurostat said.

Price increases were not evenly distributed across the bloc, with the largest rises taking place in Luxembourg, France, Sweden, Latvia and Bulgaria. The lowest increases were seen in Hungary, Poland and Italy, the report said.

Diesel, one of the refined products that has been hit most swiftly by disruption to global energy flows, increased in price by 33.7% in April while gasoline rose by 13.6%, compared with April 2025.

Most of these increases took place in March alone at 19.8% and 9.4%, respectively.

The biggest jumps in diesel prices over the March to April period of this year were seen in Slovenia, Bulgaria and Cyprus, while the smallest increases were seen in Poland and Romania.

Gasoline prices rose within a range of 12.9% in Slovenia and 1.3% in Ireland, the report said, while decreases were recorded in Romania, Spain and Poland, down 6.1% in the case of the latter.

The report did not mention whether reductions or removals of taxes on fuel retail had an influence on these unusual price decreases at a time when crude oil prices were surging.

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