While the cut for petrol prices is relatively small, it does point to a reversal of the flatter start to recoveries at the start of the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Notably, the rand moved throughout the month from contributing to an under-recovery to contributing to an over-recovery as it strengthened against the US dollar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the final week of the month, the rand traded mostly sideways, holding in the R17.60 to R17.70\/$ range. The local unit has been trading at the whims of global markets, or more specifically, against dollar strength\/weakness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This week, the rand slipped as a firmer dollar and US Fed policy concerns weighed on sentiment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Local factors, including hotter consumer inflation and higher producer inflation, had little impact. The local news cycle has also had little to no impact on the rand’s movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite this, the rand has been quite resilient to ordinarily shocking economic events, such as the implementation of a 30% tariff on South African exports to the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This muted response led to the rand contributing 2 cents per litre to the fuel price over-recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regardless, despite its resilience, the rand\u00a0remains severely undervalued<\/strong><\/a>, with South Africa’s risk premium due to weak growth, poor economic policies and perennial infrastructure, power and logistics crises adding about R4.00\/$ to the exchange.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Oil prices have also been relatively flat, though tilted towards lower prices. This has been the main contributor to fuel price recoveries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The impact for petrol prices has, again, been limited. However, with the diesel crunch hitting local pricing last month, the August recovery has been more pronounced for this fuel type.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Bloomberg’s analysis of the market, oil prices have been edging lower and are on course for a monthly loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trading conditions have been dominated by concerns about a looming glut and geopolitical issues, including US-led efforts to end the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oil traded below $68 a barrel, with the global benchmark about 5% lower this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oil\u2019s decline in August is the first monthly drop since April, when most commodities were hurt by a sharp escalation in Trump\u2019s trade war and concerns that energy consumption would suffer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The worries about a surplus \u2014 with the International Energy Agency forecasting a record glut \u2014 follow a campaign by OPEC+ to restore idled capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diesel prices took a knock in previous months as supplies came under pressure and demand rose ahead of high-consumption seaons. This led to a deviation between petrol and diesel price recoveries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While global diesel supplies are still low amid higher seasonal demand, this is priced into oil trades at around $68 a barrel. Oil prices would likely be trading lower without the supply pressures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nevertheless, this has rebalanced diesel recoveries in local pricing, with diesel benefitting to the tune of 53-54 cents per litre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Department of Petroleum and Mineral Resources will publish the official fuel price changes for September sometime before they come into effect on Wednesday, 3 September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Month-end data from the Central Energy Fund (CEF) shows that motorists in South Africa should enjoy a small cut to petrol prices next week, with diesel drivers getting even more relief.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":714644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[8995,19909,2171],"class_list":["post-836384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-cef","tag-diesel-price","tag-petrol-price"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836384","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=836384"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":836385,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836384\/revisions\/836385"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=836384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=836384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Oil prices help diesel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/diesel-1024x576.jpg\")
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