Mid-month fuel price data released by the Central Energy Fund (CEF) points to a decrease in prices of all fuel types in South Africa in October.
The CEF data, released on 16 September and reported on by BusinessTech, shows an over-recovery in both petrol and diesel prices.
This points to a possible drop of up to 21 cents per litre for petrol, while diesel prices are predicted to drop by roughly 9 cents.
The expected fuel price adjustments for all fuel types in South Africa are detailed below:
- Petrol 93 – Decrease of 18 cents per litre
- Petrol 95 – Decrease of 21 cents per litre
- Diesel 0.05% – Decrease of 9 cents per litre
- Diesel 0.005% – Decrease of 9 cents per litre
- Illuminating Paraffin – Decrease of 1 cent per litre
Despite the CEF data showing positive signs for fuel prices in the country, the Automobile Association (AA) said rising oil prices and a weakening rand could have a big impact on fuel prices before month-end.
The Department of Energy will gazette the official fuel price adjustments, which take the entire month’s data into consideration, before the first Wednesday of October.
Fuel prices in South Africa
South African fuel prices are mainly affected by two components – the rand/US dollar exchange rate and changes to international petroleum costs.
At mid-September, a stronger rand contributed to the over-recovery of around 22 cents per litre for all fuel types. However, significant changes to international oil prices had a severe impact.
In addition, the rand reached its lowest level of September during this week, which could exacerbate the negative impact of oil prices on South African fuel prices.
“A decline in retail sales in July coupled with poor manufacturing data last week raised concerns about the extent of the impact of social unrest and tighter lockdown restrictions on South Africa’s economy in the third quarter,” said financial specialists Citadel Global.
“This was despite the fact that President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the relaxation of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions in South Africa to level 2, shortly after the unrest.”
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