WASHINGTON - The U.S. retail gasoline price increased over the last week to its highest level on record, jumping 7.7 cents a gallon to a national average of $1.703, the Energy Department reported May 7, 2001. Fuel prices could greatly affect lawn and landscaping industry profits for the year as a wide range of industry practices include some sort of fuel use connection, ranging from gasoline for maintenance equipment and work vehicles to increased material costs for plants, resulting from increased transportation costs for growers.
The latest fuel price, based on the Energy Information Administration's weekly survey of 800 service stations nationwide, is up 25 cents from a year ago and breaks the $1.68 a gallon record fuel price set last June.
In its separate monthly energy forecast released earlier in the day, the department's statistical agency said that the average gasoline price could climb as high as $1.75 a gallon this summer.
The White House said that President Bush was "very concerned" about rising gasoline prices, but rejected rolling back federal fuel taxes as a quick fix.
Strong consumer demand and tight gasoline supplies have pushed fuel prices higher.
The most recent data from the Energy Department shows U.S. gasoline inventories at 199 million barrels, down 8 million barrels from a year ago and far below average levels for this time of year.
EIA warned that current gasoline inventories, which have risen recently but remain below historical levels, have set the stage for fuel supply disruptions that could result in price spikes this summer.
"Pump prices have been soaring due to high demand and low inventories," EIA said. "The tightening of motor gasoline stocks, which are less plentiful now than they were this time last year ... have helped push prices into new territories."
Motorists in the Midwest paid the most for gasoline, with prices in the region averaging $1.804 a gallon, soaring 14.1 cents over just the last week. The Midwest's cleaner-burning reformulated gasoline increased 13.9 cents to $1.903.
Consumers in the lower Atlantic states paid the least for gasoline, with prices there climbing 3.6 cents to $1.57 a gallon.
The price for diesel fuel increased 2.8 to $1.47 nationwide, though it was up 7 cents from a year ago.
Truckers on the West Coast continued to pay the most for diesel fuel at $1.563 a gallon, up 0.6 cent from last week, while Gulf Coast states had the cheapest diesel at $1.393 a gallon, up just 0.3 cents.