After a period of declining costs for fuels and lubricants for personal transport through February 2026, the EU average price surged by 12.9% compared with March 2025.

Romania registered a 19.6% year-on-year increase, the second-highest rise in the bloc, trailing only Germany's 19.8%.

The inflationary pressure was driven primarily by a sharp rise in diesel costs. Across the EU, diesel prices climbed 19.8% year-on-year, while petrol saw a more moderate 9.4% increase. On a month-to-month basis, cosumers saw diesel prices jump 19.1% and petrol rise 10.6% between February and March 2026.

Monthly data showed even sharper spikes in specific markets, where diesel surges were led by Czechia and Sweden at 27.6%, followed by Estonia at 26.8% and Latvia at 25.4%. Similarly, petrol prices reached monthly highs in Belgium at 15.1%, Sweden at 15.0%, and Austria at 14.8%.

Conversely, Slovenia and Hungary remained outliers in the annual data, recording price decreases of 5.9% and 2.7% respectively compared with March 2025. However, these figures represent a softening of previous trends, as even these markets experienced monthly price growth between February and March 2026.