Diesel prices in Louisiana have never been higher. The statewide average for diesel is almost $5.59 a gallon. Interestingly, this comes as the average for regular unleaded gasoline is not close to record territory – currently at $3.85, well short of the record of almost $4.56, set in June of 2022. Don Redman with AAA says the United States, being one of the leading exporters of diesel, is having to export a lot more, especially to Europe.
“You start seeing the huge increase in demand for diesel outside of the United States,” Redman noted.
Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain says whereas most of us don’t drive diesel vehicles, we’ll be paying these high diesel prices in the form of higher prices for goods, and those high prices will linger for quite some time.
“These high fuel energy prices, energy across the board; whether you’re drying rice or if you are trucking or moving, it’s going to have a market effect in overall food inflation. You’re going to see that over the course of the next six months to a year,” Strain said.
Strain says these high diesel prices are also adding to the woes experienced by already-suffering Louisiana shrimpers.
“If you look at farm diesel, or the same thing the shrimp boats would use on the boats, that’s going to run about $5.40 to $5.75 (per gallon), and it’s just there at the marine docks; if you don’t have your own diesel, it’s going to be much higher than that,” Strain noted.
Redman says he does not expect these high diesel prices to remain this high for too much longer.
“As we get later into this fall and into the winter, you’ll see the refineries really ramp up the production of diesel. It will increase the supplies, which would hopefully drop some of those prices,” Redman explained.