Diesel Average Price Drops 5.4 Cents to $2.425 a Gallon

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he average retail price of diesel fuel fell 5.4 cents to $2.425 a gallon, the sixth straight weekly decline, the Energy Department said Monday.

The price of trucking's main fuel has fallen 73.2 cents since reaching an all-time high of $3.157 on Oct. 24, but it is still 35.6 cents higher than this time last year and 94.4 cents higher than the Dec. 8, 2003, price.

With the trucking industry burning about 665 million gallons of diesel a week according to American Trucking Associations estimates, Monday’s price means the industry is paying about $237 million more than last year and $628 million more than two years ago.

Meanwhile, the average regular gasoline price fell slightly, dipping 0.7 cent to $2.147, DOE said. That compares with a $2.13 price as reported by Trilby Lundberg in her biweekly Lundberg Survey. (Click here for previous coverage.)

asoline has dropped 78.4 cents since Oct. 3 and 92.2 cents since hitting a record $3.069 on Sept. 5 following Hurricane Katrina. The price is 23.6 cents higher than a year ago, according to DOE figures.

Diesel prices fell in all five of DOE regions and in California, which the department breaks out separately.

The Rocky Mountain region led the declines, falling 12 cents to $2.471, while the West Coast price fell 7.9 cents to $2.538, the nation’s highest average price. California’s price dropped 7.3 cents to $2.486 a gallon.

The lowest price was the Midwest region, which fell 5.2 cents to $2.39, DOE said. The East Coast price fell 3.9 cents to $2.428 and the Gulf Coast price fell 4.5 cents to $2.411.

Each week, DOE surveys 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.