BEIJING, July 21 -- China will cut the retail prices of gasoline and diesel from midnight on Thursday, in line with changes in global crude prices.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the nation's top economic planner, announced on Thursday that gasoline prices would drop by 155 yuan (23.5 U.S. dollars) per tonne, while diesel prices would be cut by 150 yuan per tonne.

Before this latest move, the NDRC had cut retail fuel prices once, raised them four times, and suspended price adjustment of domestic refined oil products twice this year, as it aimed to improve the oil pricing mechanism introduced in 2013.

Under the mechanism, prices of refined oil products are adjusted when international crude prices translate into a change of more than 50 yuan per tonne for gasoline and diesel prices for a period of 10 working days.