A surge in the cost of crude oil is primarily to blame for higher diesel prices.
Combine the weakened value of the U.S. dollar with booming international demand, and you have a recipe for a cost spike.
On a global level, oil demand is expected to increase by 1 million barrels a day to 86.8 million barrels a day this year, as China and other emerging nations grow thirstier for petroleum. These same nations are consuming high concentrations of diesel, causing prices of this fuel to rise even more sharply than crude.
"We're seeing increased demand both in the U.S. and internationally, particularly in China, India and Europe," said Tiffany Wlazlowski, director of public affairs for the American Trucking Associations.
U.S. trucking companies aren't the only ones feeling the pinch. Recent high prices have triggered trucker protests in Europe. Drivers in England are paying the equivalent of about $10 per gallon of diesel these days.
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Only about 18 percent of crude is refined into diesel fuel as compared with 43 percent being processed into gasoline, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
