Diesel price by country
Retail diesel price across the 8 countries TruckingRates covers, highest to lowest. The last column compares each country with the regional average (≈ $1.46/L). These are the same prices the engine uses to compute each route's fuel component, so this table never disagrees with the corridor pages or the calculator.
| Country | Diesel (USD/L) | Local price | vs. average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belize | $1.96 | BZ$3.93 | +35% |
| Guatemala | $1.75 | Q13.36 | +20% |
| Costa Rica | $1.54 | ₡698 | +6% |
| Panama | $1.53 | US$1.53 (uses the US dollar) | +5% |
| Honduras | $1.47 | L39.44 | at average |
| El Salvador | $1.28 | US$1.28 (uses the US dollar) | −12% |
| Nicaragua | $1.18 | C$43.22 | −19% |
| Colombia | $0.94 | COP 3,134 | −35% |
Source: GlobalPetrolPrices.com (retail diesel, USD/L direct, T1 confidence). Local currency converted at the 2026-09-28 exchange rate. Updated 2026-09-28; next refresh 2026-10-05.
Why diesel drives your rate
On most full-truckload corridors in the region, fuel is the largest line in the rate — often 20% to 30% of the total — ahead of the driver, tolls and the empty return. When the diesel price moves, your freight moves with it.
And the price depends on the country, not the region: between Colombia ($0.94/L) and Belize ($1.96/L) there is a gap of more than 2.1×. Two lanes of the same distance, one in each country, start from very different fuel floors. That is why a fair rate is built from the real diesel of the country the load travels through, not a regional average.
The price depends on the country, not the region
Belize and the unsubsidized markets top the table: diesel sells at market price, with taxes and import costs passed through to the pump. Colombia sits at the bottom because it has historically regulated the diesel (ACPM) price and refines domestically, which cushions the domestic price. The rest of Central America falls in between by tax burden and fuel logistics. For a freight buyer the takeaway is simple: the country your load travels through sets much of the rate floor.
What to do with this
- Check the quote uses the right country's diesel. A rate priced on Colombian diesel is meaningless for a lane in Guatemala.
- Ask for the breakdown: how much of the rate is fuel. If it is not separated, you cannot tell whether a diesel surcharge is real or padded.
- Use the calculator to rebuild your lane's base cost with the country's real diesel — and compare your quote against that number.
Price a corridor
Each corridor has its own page with the modeled reference cost, diesel already baked in:
Country cost guides
Want the full picture of a market — diesel, tolls, wages and cost per route?
Frequently asked questions
Compare your rate with the real cost
Rebuild your lane's base cost from the country's real diesel, tolls and empty return — and see how much you are overpaying.
We audited a global ocean carrier's 10 Central American corridors and found ~12% average overpayment.