(Reuters, May 23 ,2006)BEIJING – China will raise retail gasoline and diesel prices from Wednesday to take them 15 percent higher so far this year, not enough to stop refiners from making losses and likely to slightly hit consumer demand growth.The increases mean the retail price of gasoline and diesel will rise by 500 yuan ($62.37) per tonne, up 9.6 and 11.1 percent, and ex-refinery prices for the motor fuels will go up by the same margin, an industry official told Reuters on Tuesday.
“Increases at this level could hurt demand. Industrial users will have to struggle to pass on the cost to their customers, or will be forced to switch to cheaper fuels,” said the industry official with top refiner Sinopec Corp.
Shares of China’s largest refiner Sinopec (0386.HK: Quote, Profile, Research) climbed 3.31 percent at HK$4.675 on Tuesday, while PetroChina (0857.HK: Quote, Profile, Research) rose 1.2 source:http://www.zoomchina.com.cn/index.php?/content/view/5976/81/

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