The Fuel Fund Management Committee, late on 25 March, approved a reduction in subsidies for diesel and petrol, leading to a 6 baht per litre increase in retail fuel prices. PTT announced that the increases will start from 05:00 on 26 March. The move comes amid rising global oil prices and is expected to have an immediate impact on transport costs and household expenses. Authorities said the adjustment is necessary to stabilise the country’s fuel pricing system.

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The committee said global oil prices have surged due to escalating tensions in the Middle East. Diesel prices in the Singapore market rose sharply from US$198.20 per barrel on 23 March to US$242.91 per barrel, intensifying pressure on domestic fuel costs. The increase has made it more difficult for Thailand to maintain subsidised fuel prices at previous levels.

Officials noted that the fuel fund has been subsidising prices at an estimated 2.6 billion baht per day, or around 80 billion baht per month. The reduction in subsidies is intended to ease this financial burden and maintain the fund’s liquidity. Authorities said the step is crucial to ensure long-term price stability during ongoing volatility in global energy markets.

The price adjustment is also aimed at aligning Thailand’s fuel prices with those in neighbouring countries. Officials warned that maintaining lower prices could increase the risk of fuel smuggling and stockpiling for profit. In Malaysia, diesel prices had already reached about 39.54 baht per litre as of mid-March, highlighting regional price differences.

Khaosod reported that the government said it is preparing support measures to cushion the impact on vulnerable groups, including public transport operators, farmers, fishermen and small businesses. Authorities also urged the public to use energy more efficiently during the period of uncertainty. Further measures and monitoring are expected as global oil price movements continue to influence domestic policy decisions.

Picture courtesy of Khaosod

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Adapted by ASEAN Now Khaosod 26 Mar 2026

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Should be plenty available this morning then!

And the hoarders can consider themselves winners

I think this kind of increase is not justified. The previous increase was only 2 days earlier and it was already 2 Baht. Apparently the Brent price went down yesterday on world markets. And Thai tankers can pass the Straight of Hormuz without any problems. A day earlier a Bangchak tanker cleared the Strait without any problem and is due to arrive in BKK early April.. In my meaning the current government is not doing their job properly. Prayut Chanocha would have handled the gasoline problem differently, I am quite sure. I wonder how much the next increase will be. Anutin said he would help the farmers, I think about those with rice harvesters (we had two of them in the past). The average cost per rai was 600 Baht last year, but like 1000 or 1200 Baht or even more per rai farmers cannot afford. Go back to cutting the rice by hand like all farmers used to do when I came to Thailand in 1986? How does Anutin help? I live in the deep Isaan and I see that farmers and those with harvesters and tractors pay the same price as anybody else, IF they can get diesel at all. Mostly it's sold out everywhere already in the early morning..

As usual Thailand is walking behind... a few days ago the oil was sky high, but now it is much cheaper and Thailand is now using the prices that should have been paid last week. Of course the people will fill up less and I hope that the useless election cars and entertainment cars stop driving around now. But I am wondering when the prices are going down now again, as Iran allow ships to pass Hormuz

Where did they get "US$198.20 per barrel on 23 March to US$242.91 per barrel" from?

Even in SGD Brent is currently SGD114 and peaked briefly at SGD145 a fortnight ago.

13 minutes ago, Gsxrnz said:

Where did they get "US$198.20 per barrel on 23 March to US$242.91 per barrel" from?

Even in SGD Brent is currently SGD114 and peaked briefly at SGD145 a fortnight ago.

Because as the article says it is from the diesel price in Singapore, Which is sold under Free On Board (FOB) terms at the port of Singapore.

Not about the price of Brent crude

PI is apparently $2 a litre..ouch

42 minutes ago, Georgealbert said:

Because as the article says it is from the diesel price in Singapore, Which is sold under Free On Board (FOB) terms at the port of Singapore.

Not about the price of Brent crude

Thanks, that explains it - I didn't pick up on that detail.

Be aware that fuel prices are heavy manipulated by subsidies.

They simply can't burden the huge deficits.

Which countries subsidies buying Diesel trucks used for personal transport?

Which countries subsidies Diesel fuel preferring over other fuels?

Diesel cars banned from cities by European exhaust rules.

2 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Should be plenty available this morning then!

That's the plan..

Trump 🤡 did this ....now the price of everything will rise ,

regards worgeordie

29 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

Trump 🤡 did this ....now the price of everything will rise ,

regards worgeordie

Yes a wave of price increases to expect.

The shortage, if not complete absence, of petrol (namely diesel) was and is not a price problem but rather a logistic problem.

A petrol company has contractual logistics with a third-party trucking company - or their own fleet - based on the petrol company's need (pre-war) needs. Due to poor communication and the fact, that literally nobody follows instructions nor believes the government all advice went out the window and Thais started to hoard fuel. In the past they went for 200 - 500 Baht refills, now they show up with jerrycans, old milk containers and what-have-yous.

The Achilles heel of Northern and Northeastern Thailand is and remains diesel; the backbone of Thailand's working class. These millions of farmers run everything on diesel, i.e. their Kubota-buffaloes, Klong-drainage pumps and aged pick-ups to bring their produce to the market place.

The governmental "subsidies" - another smoke screen to the taxpaying voters. The tax taken from the buyer at the petrol station got reduced, i.e. the government did not subsidize anything but simply got less tax income on petrol sale.

Let's wait and see, if the latest spike will change anything. In Laos the market dried out although pre-war diesel was LAK 20,000; in certain areas people (who could afford it) paid LAK 200,000 - tenfold the price. As Laos' grid of roads is despicable, it is literally impossible to provide the logistics when the market panics.

It remains a fact, that the actual need of petrol has not changed since the war started. It is all in the mind of the lower/uneducated customer, panicking over contradicting/incomplete and/or partly blunt wrong information by all those press speakers. For ages the tourism figures in headcount and undecillions of Baht are not even taken note of, as it does not affect anybody. With petrol, as the present example shows, it is a different ball game!

2 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

And the hoarders can consider themselves winners

2 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

And the hoarders can consider themselves winners

I wonder if we would have had this increase if it weren't for the hoarders. Day after day people have being filling up drums and everything they can get their hands on, running down reserves and straining the fund. While I understand some are farmers or have machinery to operate, before this, I very rarely saw a drum filled in the petrol stations. I'm hoping this 6 baht increase will stop the hoarders, but I do feel sorry for the guys who need regular fuel.

1 minute ago, KhunBENQ said:

Yes a wave of price increases to expect.

Also many will not come down again ,when things return to normal (whatever

that is with Trump 🤡 in charge ) inflation will be rampant ,while bank deposits

will return nowt ....

regards worgeordie

Before the unfreezing vs today ... whoa

Yesterday, small PTT station only had 91, and the large station on Hwy 4 was out of all, I think. Wonder if all grades will be available today.

1 hour ago, KhunBENQ said:

Be aware that fuel prices are heavy manipulated by subsidies.

They simply can't burden the huge deficits.

Which countries subsidies buying Diesel trucks used for personal transport?

Which countries subsidies Diesel fuel preferring over other fuels?

Diesel cars banned from cities by European exhaust rules.

Which countries subsidies buying Diesel trucks used for personal transport?

Less tax on purchase of diesel trucks is not a subsidy.

It was to be expected that they could not keep the diesel price low.

It already costed Thailand (too) much to keep it for years below 30 thb.

With higher prices , people will be more careful not to waste it .

3 hours ago, Dario said:

I think this kind of increase is not justified. The previous increase was only 2 days earlier and it was already 2 Baht. Apparently the Brent price went down yesterday on world markets. And Thai tankers can pass the Straight of Hormuz without any problems. A day earlier a Bangchak tanker cleared the Strait without any problem and is due to arrive in BKK early April.. In my meaning the current government is not doing their job properly. Prayut Chanocha would have handled the gasoline problem differently, I am quite sure. I wonder how much the next increase will be. Anutin said he would help the farmers, I think about those with rice harvesters (we had two of them in the past). The average cost per rai was 600 Baht last year, but like 1000 or 1200 Baht or even more per rai farmers cannot afford. Go back to cutting the rice by hand like all farmers used to do when I came to Thailand in 1986? How does Anutin help? I live in the deep Isaan and I see that farmers and those with harvesters and tractors pay the same price as anybody else, IF they can get diesel at all. Mostly it's sold out everywhere already in the early morning..

A comment with no understanding that the oil price is global and that other countries have increased similarly or more. The cost per litre of diesel in uk is DOUBLE the Thai price.

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1 hour ago, alien365 said:

I wonder if we would have had this increase if it weren't for the hoarders. Day after day people have being filling up drums and everything they can get their hands on, running down reserves and straining the fund. While I understand some are farmers or have machinery to operate, before this, I very rarely saw a drum filled in the petrol stations. I'm hoping this 6 baht increase will stop the hoarders, but I do feel sorry for the guys who need regular fuel.

1 hour ago, alien365 said:

I wonder if we would have had this increase if it weren't for the hoarders. Day after day people have being filling up drums and everything they can get their hands on, running down reserves and straining the fund. While I understand some are farmers or have machinery to operate, before this, I very rarely saw a drum filled in the petrol stations. I'm hoping this 6 baht increase will stop the hoarders, but I do feel sorry for the guys who need regular fuel.

1 hour ago, alien365 said:

I wonder if we would have had this increase if it weren't for the hoarders. Day after day people have being filling up drums and everything they can get their hands on, running down reserves and straining the fund. While I understand some are farmers or have machinery to operate, before this, I very rarely saw a drum filled in the petrol stations. I'm hoping this 6 baht increase will stop the hoarders, but I do feel sorry for the guys who need regular fuel.

I agree. I feel for all the Thai people who will be hurt by the price increase especially farmers who rely on diesel and operate on limited budgets with low margins. However, some this is self-inflicted by people panicking and hoarding fuel. I have never seen so many pickups carrying fuel tanks.

1 hour ago, Chongalulu said:

A comment with no understanding that the oil price is global and that other countries have increased similarly or more. The cost per litre of diesel in uk is DOUBLE the Thai price.

There is no way of comparing the UK and Thailand retail fuel prices . The UK government impose a total retail tax of 54% on a liter of diesel whilst the Thai government have zero retail fuel tax duty but do apply v.a.t. at 7% but also add subsidies .

Issan farmers need help from the government if the fuel prices persist . If no help ,Thai inflation is imminent .

10 minutes ago, superal said:

There is no way of comparing the UK and Thailand retail fuel prices . The UK government impose a total retail tax of 54% on a liter of diesel whilst the Thai government have zero retail fuel tax duty but do apply v.a.t. at 7% but also add subsidies .

Issan farmers need help from the government if the fuel prices persist . If no help ,Thai inflation is imminent .

Not only Issan farmers need government help but transport / haulage companies too

What I also worry about - probably more so than the day-to-day petrol pump prices is if this drags on what’s the impact going to be on the much larger logistics costs and its impact on a lot of consumers buy and use daily.

Sustained higher fuel costs (and I suspect it may also impact ocean marine shipping insurance) will begin to work its way into ocean shipping costs, and in turn pass to wholesale and ultimately retail pricing.. Of course we’ve seen airlines and air fares begin to reflect this… and I think we will see more..

It may also begin to creep into services like local delivery (think Grab or Line Man) services as well.

So while daily pump prices and availability IS - big deal, I think there’s a larger longer term impact that’s also going to play out - and IMHO - those costs could actually be larger in the long term aggregate, than pump prices.

5 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Should be plenty available this morning then!

No diesel available this morning.... multiple service stations.

Had to drive home and drive my other vehicle to work.

10 minutes ago, new2here said:

What I also worry about - probably more so than the day-to-day petrol pump prices is if this drags on what’s the impact going to be on the much larger logistics costs and its impact on a lot of consumers buy and use daily.

Sustained higher fuel costs (and I suspect it may also impact ocean marine shipping insurance) will begin to work its way into ocean shipping costs, and in turn pass to wholesale and ultimately retail pricing.. Of course we’ve seen airlines and air fares begin to reflect this… and I think we will see more..

It may also begin to creep into services like local delivery (think Grab or Line Man) services as well.

So while daily pump prices and availability IS - big deal, I think there’s a larger longer term impact that’s also going to play out - and IMHO - those costs could actually be larger in the long term aggregate, than pump prices.

A real need to finish this middle east war asap or the global economies will suffer and may lead to further conflicts . The Thai economy is already in a weak state.

2 hours ago, FlorC said:

With higher prices , people will be more careful not to waste it .

I don't think so. They will still drive every meter!

China and Russia have strongly condemned the aggression of the United States and Israel against a sovereign state, which led to the global fuel crisis.

Putin supporters believe that US and Israeli citizens need a special Non-FU(fuel visa) to enter Thailand for 10,000 baht to compensate for Thai citizens' fuel costs.

6 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

As usual Thailand is walking behind... a few days ago the oil was sky high, but now it is much cheaper and Thailand is now using the prices that should have been paid last week. Of course the people will fill up less and I hope that the useless election cars and entertainment cars stop driving around now. But I am wondering when the prices are going down now again, as Iran allow ships to pass Hormuz

as Iran allow ships to pass Hormuz.....But Only Friendly Ones !!