{"id":846659,"date":"2025-12-19T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=846659"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:07:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T09:07:59","slug":"great-news-about-petrol-prices-for-january","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/846659\/great-news-about-petrol-prices-for-january\/","title":{"rendered":"Great news about petrol prices in January"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The latest data from the Central Energy Fund (CEF) for the end of the third week in December indicates that motorists can expect an even bigger cut in prices at the pumps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After starting the month in the negatives, petrol price recoveries have swung firmly into positive territory, with drivers now lined up for a 30 to 35 cents per litre cut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Diesel drivers have even more to cheer about, with fuel price recoveries pointing to a significant cut in the new year of over R1 per litre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For petrol prices, however, this reflects a doubling of favourable recoveries since the mid-month review, with the trendline showing a positive trajectory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These are the expected price changes at the end of week 3:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Petrol 93:<\/strong> <mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">decrease <\/mark>of 31 cents per litre<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Petrol 95:<\/strong> <mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">decrease <\/mark>of 35 cents per litre<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Diesel 0.05% (wholesale):<\/strong>\u00a0<mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">decrease <\/mark>of 110 cents per litre<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Diesel 0.005% (wholesale):<\/strong>\u00a0<mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">decrease <\/mark>of 120 cents per litre<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Illuminating paraffin:\u00a0<\/strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">decrease <\/mark>of 85 cents per litre<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The large shift in recoveries is thanks to both a stronger rand and a weaker oil price, with both factors benefiting local motorists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While there is still more than a week left of the month, the trajectory for both of these factors is firmly on the side of stronger over-recoveries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The rand slipped against a stronger dollar in holiday-thinned trade on Friday, but analysts said it could soon resume its rally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even trading weaker than Thursday, at R16.76 to the dollar, the local unit is securely under the R17.00\/$ level and holding on to the resilience it has exhibited for much of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The rand has had a strong year, rising more than 12% against the dollar in 2025 thanks to South Africa&#8217;s improved fiscal performance, success in containing inflation and soaring precious metals prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;It seems plausible that the rand will remain well supported and could appreciate even further,&#8221; ETM Analytics said in a research note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This week&#8217;s economic data releases showed price pressures remain moderate, keeping the South African Reserve Bank on course for more interest rate cuts next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Consumer inflation slowed to 3.5% in November from 3.6% the month before, within the one percentage point tolerance band of the central bank&#8217;s new 3% inflation target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While fuel prices increased in December, likely impacting the inflation rate for the month, the current trajectory for January pricing will balance this out, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Oil prices stuck in a rut<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Oil-barrels.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Oil-barrels-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-840916\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Oil-barrels-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Oil-barrels-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Oil-barrels-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Oil-barrels.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A clear winner for local fuel pricing is the global oil price, which is heading for a second weekly decline as concerns over a growing glut outweigh potential supply disruptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Brent crude has moved below $60 a barrel and is down more than 2% for the week. The decline does not appear to be temporary or on track to reverse anytime soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Virtually all of the world\u2019s biggest traders see the market in a state of oversupply early next year, with some heavyweights forecasting Brent will be in the $50s through the middle of 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oil has lost about 20% this year as oil producers (OPEC+) returned barrels faster than anticipated, pumped more oil, while demand has been lacklustre. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Geopolitical risks, especially around Russian and Venezuelan supply, have helped temper some of the declines, but not enough to quell the oversupply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oil trading activity is typically thin heading into the Christmas and New Year holidays, which could lead to choppy price moves. However, the trajectory remains downward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With both the oil price and the rand supporting stronger over-recoveries, motorists in South Africa should start the new year with fuller tanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Department of Petroleum and Mineral Resources will announce the official changes before they come into effect on the first Wednesday of the new month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For January 2026, this will be Wednesday, January 7, with the official changes announced in the days leading up to that date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The latest data from the Central Energy Fund (CEF) for the end of the third week in December indicates that motorists can expect an even bigger cut in prices at the pumps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":789805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[8995,19909,2171],"class_list":["post-846659","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\/846659","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=846659"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":846662,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846659\/revisions\/846662"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/789805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}