In the past year, fuel prices in Germany have increased dramatically at times. Motorists are suffering, but they are actually filling up with more petrol than in previous years. At least to save something, they try in other ways.
Despite extreme prices at filling stations, more petrol was consumed in 2022 than in the two previous years. This is indicated by an evaluation of figures from the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA). Possible dampening effects of the high prices were obviously more than offset by the relaxation of the corona virus and the renewed increase in travel. In contrast, diesel consumption remained at the lower level of the two previous years. However, a large part of the demand here does not come from private individuals, but from goods traffic with trucks.
The BAFA figures do not relate directly to the quantities of fuel sold at the pumps, but to the domestic deliveries of the fuel - mostly to the filling stations. However, this also allows an assessment of the development of consumption. Specifically, around 17 million tons of gasoline were delivered in 2022. That is a good 500,000 tons more than in 2021. The difference to the first pandemic year 2020 is even 737,000 tons. However, if you compare it with the two years before Corona, the situation is different: around 18 million tons of gasoline were delivered in 2019 and around 17.8 million tons in 2018, i.e. significantly more than last year.
In the case of diesel, 34.8 million tons were delivered in 2022. In the previous years 2021 and 2020 it was 35 million and 35.1 million tons respectively, i.e. slightly more. In the pre-Corona years, the values were also significantly higher here. The high fuel prices have apparently caused a change in tank behavior: the Super E10, which was about 6 cents cheaper recently and has a higher proportion of biofuel, gained favor with drivers. Its share was 24 percent of petrol deliveries on average for the year. In 2021 it was 17 percent, in previous years it was always less than 14 percent.
The specific gravity of diesel and gasoline varies according to the exact composition and temperature. A tonne of unleaded petrol roughly corresponds to 1300 to 1400 liters, a tonne of diesel to about 1200 liters.
