Fuel prices continued their upwards march yesterday, rising again for the fourth time in the past nine days.
Motorists are at present caught in a ''double whammy'' of effects causing price hikes, crude oil rising in price at the same time the New Zealand dollar is weak.
Petrol has now risen 14c per litre during the past nine days, while diesel is up 9c per litre, having earlier been down respectively 49c and 45c since October, before the latest round of rises.
Automobile Association PetrolWatch spokesman Mark Stockdale said, when contacted, since mid-January crude oil prices had risen 28%, and given that makes up 30% of the retail cost of fuel, it translates ''into what we are seeing at the pump''.
''The [Kiwi] dollar is now down 4c on a year ago, and compounded with commodity prices, at the pumps it's a double whammy; a big hit twice,'' Mr Stockdale said.
In recent days, crude oil prices dipped, as the slump in Chinese imports indicated lower fuel demand in the world's biggest energy consumer.
Following a six-week high of $US59.06 ($NZ79.59) which was touched on Friday, North Sea Brent crude dipped, then gained 1.1% on Monday to trade at $US58.43 a barrel.
Mr Stockdale said the importer margin for the fuel companies - the difference between the retailers' costs and taxes against the pump price - were at their lowest levels in a year, meaning the fuel companies were now passing on those increased costs.
Z Energy spokeswoman Sheena Thomas said the listed fuel retailer was still chasing its tail on steep increases in barrel prices over the past 10 days, BusinessDesk reported.
''On top of that, the barrel price for refined 91-octane petrol on the international market has gone up again over the last couple of days by another $US3 ($NZ4.05).
''Price increases are not something we do lightly, but as a high cost, low margin industry we can't afford to absorb increases in barrel price for very long,'' she said.
