Cold weather hits India's gasoline, gasoil sales in Jan

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Sales of gasoline and gasoil by Indian state-run retailers declined in January from the previous month as cold weather in parts of the country hit the movement of personal and commercial vehicles, preliminary sales data showed.

State retailers sold about 6.7 million tonnes of gasoil in January, a decline of 8.6% from the previous month, the data showed.

Gasoil accounts for about two-fifths of refined fuel consumption in India and is directly linked to industrial activity.

Cold weather and softening industrial activity curbed the movement of gasoil-guzzling trucks last month.

India's manufacturing industry expanded at the slowest pace in three months in January as output and sales growth slackened, according to a private survey.

The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, compiled by S&P Global, fell to 55.4 last month from 57.8 in December, well below the 57.4 predicted in a Reuters poll.

Gasoline sales in January were at 2.6 million tonnes, declining by 5.1% from December, the data showed.

State retailers - Indian Oil Corp Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd - control about 90% of India's fuel stations.

Below is a table of India's preliminary fuel sales data with volumes in thousand tonnes.

Refined fuels Jan 2023 % Chg %Chg %Chg vs

mth/mth yr/yr 2021

Gasoline 2621.5 -5.1 17.6 11.3

Gasoil 6678.9 -8.6 18.5 10.5

Jet Fuel 614.7 1.23 45.0 47.8

Liquefied Petroleum Gas 2637.7 -3.21 0.18 5.7

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

By Nidhi Verma