Hong Kong  - Diesel duty may be axed altogether by the Hong Kong government after protests by lorry drivers hit by soaring fuel prices, legislators said Wednesday.

A group of pro-government legislators who met Hong Kong's transport secretary Eva Cheng Wednesday morning said afterwards that the government was considering scrapping the duty.

"We urged the government to cut all duty on diesel and (Cheng) said she would think about it and respond as soon as possible. We hope we will hear good news in the next few days," legislator Lau Kong-wah said.

The move comes a week after lorry drivers staged a slow-drive protest over fuel prices through the city centre and hundreds of lorry drivers petitioned the government for a cut in duty.

A government spokesman confirmed Tuesday that it was looking at the duty on diesel but pointed out the duty accounted for less than 5 per cent of overall retail price, a low level by world standards.

Recent spikes in fuel prices have been particularly hard on Hong Kong's cross-border lorry drivers who take goods to and from mainland China. (dpa)