{"id":642837,"date":"2022-11-14T10:01:47","date_gmt":"2022-11-14T08:01:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=642837"},"modified":"2022-11-14T10:06:39","modified_gmt":"2022-11-14T08:06:39","slug":"big-jump-in-petrol-prices-expected-for-december-but-theres-some-good-news-for-diesel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/642837\/big-jump-in-petrol-prices-expected-for-december-but-theres-some-good-news-for-diesel\/","title":{"rendered":"Big jump in petrol prices expected for December &#8211; but there&#8217;s some good news for diesel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The latest weekly estimates from the Central Energy Fund (CEF) point to petrol paid for motorists in December &#8211; but there are currently some bright spots in view for diesel following months of steep hikes.<\/p>\n<p>According to the CEF&#8217;s weekly data to 11 November 2022, petrol prices are currently showing an under-recovery (thus a potential increase) of around R1.20 per litre for December.<\/p>\n<p>Diesel prices, meanwhile, could show a slight drop of between 2 cents to 6 cents per litre.<\/p>\n<p>The department stresses that the snapshot is not predictive but rather serves as a fuel price indication. As market conditions change throughout the month, so too do the forecasts.<\/p>\n<p>These are the projected price adjustments at the end of week two of November.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Petrol 93\/95:<\/strong> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">increase<\/span> of R1.20 per litre<\/li>\n<li><strong>Diesel 0.05%:<\/strong> <span style=\"color: #008000;\">decrease<\/span> of 6 cents per litre<\/li>\n<li><strong>Diesel 0.005%:<\/strong> <span style=\"color: #008000;\">decrease<\/span> of 2 cents per litre<\/li>\n<li><strong>Paraffin:<\/strong> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">increase<\/span> of 43 cents per litre<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/ReseGo-11-11-22.pdf\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>While the possible drop in diesel prices seems tiny compared to the R1.60 per litre hike seen over the last two months, the <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Daily-11-11-2022.pdf\">latest daily snapshot<\/a> of fuel prices from the CEF shows an improving trend and that diesel could be dropping by 13 cents to 22 cents per litre in the new month <strong>if current market conditions continue<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The CEF\u2019s more detailed breakdown of market fluctuations shows that the key driver behind the bleak forecast for petrol is the increasing cost of international petroleum products. A stronger rand has helped pull this back somewhat.<\/p>\n<p>According to economists at the Bureau for Economic Research, last week\u2019s lower-than-anticipated US consumer inflation print sent investors into a risk-on mode, which benefitted emerging market currencies like the rand.<\/p>\n<p>US Treasury yields moved lower as investors revised down their expectations of where US interest rates could peak, with markets currently pricing in a 70% chance of a 50bps hike in December, which would break a streak of four 75bps hikes in the States.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the dollar weakened significantly and fell to its weakest level against the euro since August.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The rand benefitted from the weaker greenback too and gained 4% against the US currency last week and reached its strongest level since September,&#8221; the BER said.<\/p>\n<p>Despite this bit of good fortune for the rand, oil prices &#8211; the other factor impacting local fuel prices &#8211; remain elevated, trading at around $96 a barrel. While this is still below the $100 mark, it is up from lows in recent months as demand and supply pressures continue to impact the market.<\/p>\n<p>While the oil market is fluctuating &#8211; with prices dipping on Monday (14 November) following a rally last week &#8211; Bloomberg economists note that there could be a spike in demand coming from China, as the country appears to be loosening its grip on strict Covid-zero restrictions.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;An increase in Chinese crude consumption could lead to a further tightening of the market, which is facing European Union sanctions on Russian oil flows next month after the OPEC+ alliance initiated a round of supply cuts,&#8221; Bloomberg said.<\/p>\n<p>The BER, meanwhile, noted that month-on-month figures show that inflationary pressures continue to persist in the market.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Monthly price increases in energy commodities, such as fuel oil and gasoline, staged a comeback. After declining consistently since July, the CPI rate remained unchanged at 0.4% month on month in October,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n<p>Local economists have also warned that oil prices are building for a <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/642183\/trouble-on-the-way-for-petrol-prices-in-south-africa\/\">significant increase in prices at the pumps come December<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Petrol price adjustments will be announced at the end of the month, set to come into effect on Wednesday, 7 December.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/642183\/trouble-on-the-way-for-petrol-prices-in-south-africa\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Trouble on the way for petrol prices in South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s looking like bad news for petrol prices in December &#8211; but maybe some hope for diesel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":642855,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[14829,8995,26],"class_list":["post-642837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-ber","tag-cef","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642837"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":642867,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642837\/revisions\/642867"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}