The price increase-the first in 17 months-raised state-set fuel prices nearly 10%. The surprise move was designed to ease shortages that resulted from slowing production by Chinese oil refiners, which buy oil at global prices but must sell gasoline at state-set, rather than market, prices.

In the wake of the increase, the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic policy maker, told the two main state-owned refiners to take several additional measures, from refining more fuel to delaying maintenance or increasing fuel imports.

Still, the steady march of global oil prices is already putting pressure on Beijing to raise prices again.

"The recent price adjustment by the government released the pressure but didn't solve the root of the problem," said an executive at China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., also called Sinopec, China's biggest refiner by capacity. "Oil futures are near $100, but the price we sell at is only $60. We are still losing money."

Sinopec is especially vulnerable to the effects of China's price controls because it must buy most of the oil it refines. For the past two years, the government has given the company end-of-year subsidies to make up for the losses it incurs.

China's biggest oil producer by output and No. 2 refiner, China National Petroleum Corp., parent of listed PetroChina Corp., produces most of its own crude, but it has also felt the squeeze.

Not only does the government tightly control pump prices, but it has, so far, severely restricted companies' ability to hedge market risk by buying oil futures. In other countries, oil companies limit their exposure to oil's volatility by locking in a long-term price.

Oil prices are also starting to hurt food prices, adding to the government's concern about inflation.

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