China suspends oil price adjustment

BEIJING - China's top economic planner will not adjust domestic retail oil prices as global prices stayed below its official pricing mechanism, it was announced Thursday.

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

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced in January that China will not cut its fuel prices when international oil prices fall below $40 a barrel, which immediately triggered a suspension on Jan 27.

The limit aims to buffer the negative effects of price swings, the NDRC said.

The NDRC is closely watching the current pricing mechanism and will continue to improve it based on market changes, according to an NDRC notice.