One day, while driving as usual, I happened to glance at the price sign at a gas station.
Regular gasoline: ¥183 per liter.
“Wait… was it really this expensive?”
It felt like just recently prices had been in the ¥150 range.
I had been following the news about rising tensions in the Middle East, but even so, the speed of the increase seemed hard to understand.
Crude oil is shipped from overseas.
Refining takes time as well.
So why do gasoline prices move almost immediately after major news breaks—
almost like sitting at a sushi counter and being told,
“Today’s price is market price”?
This is a very natural question.
In this message, I would like to explain the mechanism from the perspective of a consultant who works closely with companies in the real economy, in a way that is as clear and accessible as possible.
