China to push forward market reforms for jet fuel pricing in March

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will allow oil companies to play a bigger role in determining the import price for jet fuel from March, the country's top planning body said on Saturday, state media reported. Beijing is set to push forward market reforms of aviation fuel pricing, a National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) official said, according to Xinhua news agency. Major state-owned oil companies including Sinopec, PetroChina, CNOOC and China Aviation Oil will determine one part of the producer price of jet fuel, Xinhua said. That part is known as the Cost, Insurance and Freightage (CIF) import price, and was previously decided by the NDRC itself and published on a monthly basis. The NDRC began implementing a more market-driven pricing plan for the producer price of jet fuel in 2011, Xinhua said. (Reporting By Chen Aizhu and Megha Rajagopalan; Editing by Pravin Char)