Oak Hill, WV (WOAY) – Diesel prices have climbed to a record high nationwide, and the cost is already working its way toward the checkout line.
The national average for a gallon of diesel hit a record $6.39 on Thursday, according to AAA, up from around $3.70 a year ago. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says diesel inventories are near multi-year lows, with the war in Iran and Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries straining global supply.
For consumers, the effect starts with the cost of moving goods, said Melissa Farrish, an associate professor of business management at WVU Tech in Beckley.
“When diesel increases, then the cost of moving goods significantly increases,” Farrish said. “So higher diesel means that we will have higher trucking costs, there will be higher cost to retailers and then there will be a higher cost for the consumer.”
The miles a product travels before it reaches the shelf add up. Farrish used the example of a gallon of milk.
“That milk leaves the farm and it travels by diesel truck to a processing facility … that processed milk then travels to a distribution center again on a diesel truck, and then that milk travels from the distribution center to our local grocery store, again on a diesel truck,” she said.
Each leg of that trip compounds the cost, and milk is only one example.
Consumers are facing a second pressure point this week. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates Wednesday, its first increase since 2023.
“In terms of the interest rate increasing, of course, that is going to slow down the economy,” Farrish said. “People who will be thinking about buying a house or a car will kind of second-guess that.”
