Mid-month data from the Central Energy Fund shows that South African motorists should see a significant petrol and diesel price cut in early September.
According to the BusinessTech website, the data, which serves as a snapshot of market conditions as of last Friday, shows that the petrol price could see a decrease by as much as R2.60 per litre next month, while diesel will drop by slightly less at R2.30 per litre.
The mid-month snapshot is as follows:
- Petrol 95: decrease of 260 cents per litre;
- Petrol 93: decrease of 244 cents per litre;
- Diesel 0.05%: decrease of 230 cents per litre;
- Diesel 0.005%: decrease of 225 cents per litre;
- Illuminating Paraffin: decrease of 193 cents per litre.
However, with several weeks still to go before the final numbers are calculated, there could be even better – or slightly worse – news for long-suffering Mzansi motorists.
As we know, local fuel price fluctuations are impacted by TWO main factors.
Those are the international price of petroleum products, driven mainly by oil prices, and the rand/dollar exchange rate used in purchases of these products.
For the first two weeks of August, oil prices stayed below $100 a barrel, contributing to a significant over-recovery in local prices. This was supported by a stronger rand versus the dollar, which also contributed to an over-recovery, albeit much smaller.
Oil prices
Brent crude was trading around $98.15 a barrel at the time of publishing on Monday morning.
Oil prices hit a high of $117 per barrel in June, but dropped to an average of around $105 per barrel in July.
Exchange rate
For months the rand has been working against local fuel prices, with its weaker position in the market undercutting the benefits from lower global oil prices.
At the time of publishing the rand/dollar exchange rate is R16.31/$1.
The rand remains at the mercy of the broader global environment and any shift in sentiment could see the currency tumble.
For now, the relatively stronger rand is contributing to the above 25-30 cents per litre recovery in local fuel prices.
The final price decrease (hopefully) will be confirmed later this month with the new price coming into effect at midnight on Tuesday, 6 September.
Go easy on the accelerator until then, Mzansi!
Source: www.thesouthafrican.com