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U.S. retail diesel prices dipped 0.4 cent last week to $2.899 a gallon, the ninth decrease in the national fuel average during the past 10 weeks, the Department of Energy reported.

Massachusetts has indefinitely suspended a mandate that was to take effect July 1 requiring all diesel fuel and heating oil sold there to be 2% biodiesel.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced last week it wants the U.S. trucking industry to increase its use of biodiesel to 800 million gallons in 2011 from 650 million gallons this year.

U.S. retail fuel prices continued their midsummer slide last week, as the average cost of a gallon of diesel dipped 2.1 cents to $2.903, and gasoline slipped 0.8 cent to $2.718, the Department of Energy reported.

Oil prices fell below $77 a barrel Wednesday following a Department of Energy report that showed diesel and gasoline inventories improved last week even though oil stockpiles declined, Bloomberg reported.

The U.S. trade deficit widened 4.8% in May to the highest level in a year and a half, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

Massachusetts has indefinitely suspended a 2% biodiesel mandate for fuel and heating oil that was to take effect this month, saying that without the federal tax credit for the producers, the cost of biodiesel would be too high for consumers.

The U.S. retail diesel average dipped 3.2 cents to $2.924 last week, the seventh decline in eight weeks, the Department of Energy reported.

Gasoline’s national average price fell 3.9 cents in the past two weeks to $2.73 a gallon, according to the latest Lundberg Survey of filling stations released Sunday.