Cyprus petroleum product sales drop 7.3% y/y in H1

In a sign of weaker demand sales of petroleum products fell by 7.3% compared with the same period of the previous year in January to June, with almost all categories recording a decline.
Sales of unleaded gasoline 98 used fell by 14.8% year on year, although the more standard 95 version was steady at a drop of just 0.3%.
There was a 6.4% drop in aviation kerosene and a 12.2% drop in aviation gasoline, perhaps reflecting moves by Cyprus Airways to cancel flights with low bookings and merge them with flights in other days.
Regular kerosene sales were up 29.9%, however. This is used in traditional portable heaters and might reflect a switch back to old methods of heating after electricity costs soared.
In June alone sales of petroleum products rose by 2.3% compared with the previous month, driven by aviation kerosene and Unleaded 95.
Both these trends probably reflect the summer season, as the number of flights increased and as Cypriots flocked at weekends to the beach.
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