Fuel 20c cheaper in Manjimup

The State's fuel watchdog manager says local competition has driven Manjimup's petrol prices almost 20 cents per litre below Bunbury's.

Unleaded fuel has been available in Manjimup at 109.9cpl for more than a week while Bunbury prices have hovered between 125.9cpl and 127.9cpl.

The small Wheatbelt town of Williams, which received an influx of South West travellers while Forrest and South Western highways were closed during the bushfires, has also been consistently cheaper than Bunbury this month.

Fuel price news is tipped to get slightly better for Bunbury with FuelWatch manager Lynne Gould predicting falls of at least 4cpl in the coming weeks.

Ms Gould believed a price war in Manjimup between several sites had led to the significant decrease in the town's prices.

"Local competitive factors kicked in about June and that started a sharp decline, with a significant decrease from December," she said.

Manjimup's average unleaded fuel price was 141cpl last June, which then dropped from 130.8cpl in November to 116.8cpl this month - an overall decrease of 24.2cpl.

In the same period, Bunbury's average has only dropped by 11.1 cents from 139cpl to 127.9cpl. Bunbury's average price was within 1cpl of Perth's in June, but the gap has now widened with the average metropolitan price dropping by 18.3cpl.

Yesterday, Bunbury's cheapest unleaded petrol was 125.9cpl and Perth's was 107.9cpl.

Crude oil prices have dropped below $US30 a barrel earlier this month while the Singapore crude price, which Ms Gould said was a good indicator of bowser prices, had also been declining.

Ms Gould said there was a time lag between Perth and Bunbury's price shifts.

"When international prices fall, we generally see metro prices reflect that within two weeks and the regions four to six weeks after that," she said.

Ms Gould also said there were "good deals" to be had in diesel, with three sites selling it at 123.9cpl yesterday. She advised customers to shop around.

Editorial, page 10