China suspends oil price adjustment after two hikes

BEIJING — China's top economic planner announced Friday that it will keep domestic retail oil prices unchanged as global oil prices have not fluctuated greatly in the past two weeks.

Under the current mechanism, prices of refined oil products are adjusted when crude prices change by more than 50 yuan ($7.5) per metric ton for gasoline and diesel over a period of 10 working days.

China increased domestic retail oil prices twice on August 4 and July 21 as international oil prices increased.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said it is closely watching the current pricing mechanism and will continue to improve it based on changes in both domestic and overseas markets.

The NDRC said it expects that international oil prices will mainly face pressure from an increase in US output but gain support from output cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in coming months.