Photo by: Duane Daws
The pump price for a litre of petrol will be 99c a litre cheaper for all grades from next Wednesday, while the price of diesel 0.05% sulphur and diesel 0.005% sulphur will decrease by 74c and 73c a litre respectively.
Motorists will now pay R12.35 a litre for unleaded petrol inland and R11.87 on the coast.
The Department of Energy also announced on Friday that illuminating paraffin (wholesale) will cost 66c/l cheaper and illuminating paraffin (SMNRP) 88c/l.
The maximum retail price for LPGAS will decrease by 160c/kg.
The decrease is mainly due to the strengthening of the rand (the average rand/dollar exchange rate for the period 1 July 2016 to 28 July 2016 was 14.4407 compared to 15.1553 during the previous period) and the weaker oil price.
The Automobile Association said earlier on Friday the rand has continued its recent march against the dollar, with an almost uninterrupted two-month streak of gains.
The local unit extended its gains, breaking through the psychological R14/$-level as US GDP data came in disappointingly low at 1.2% for the first quarter. The market expected 2.6%. The rand's move was also impacted as SA recorded a trade surplus of R12.53bn in June, the fourth straight monthly trade surplus.
The dollar immediately traded weaker across the board, with the USDZAR currently at the best levels for 2016, according to TreasuryOne.
The AA however said "impressive though the rand's performance has been of late, it has contributed only about 25 cents of the expected fuel price drop in August. The balance has been due to the continued retreat of international petroleum prices in the wake of the UK's Brexit vote".The petrol price breather comes amid industrial action in the petroleum sector affecting refineries and depots of petroleum companies.
Regarding this strike, the South African Petroleum Industries Association (Sapia) indicated fuel was in supply, and that it had contingency plans in place for the strike. Sapia advised motorists to stick to their normal refueling patterns to assist the petroleum industry in ensuring security of supply.