Diesel, paraffin and gas consumers will feel some relief at the pumps when prices decrease at midnight.
The price of petrol will, however, be on the increase as the Department of Mineral Resources announced the latest adjustments on Tuesday.
The changes are as follows:
Both grades of petrol will increase by 37c
Diesel 0.05% sulphur will decrease by 73c
Diesel 0.005% sulphur is also expected to decrease by 47c
Wholesale illuminating paraffin is to go down by 33c
The Single Maximum National Retail price for illuminating paraffin will decrease by 44c
The Maximum LP Gas Retail Price will decrease by R4.44
“The average international product prices of petrol increased while diesel and Illuminating Paraffin decreased during the period under review due to the following factors: (a) Petrol prices were boosted by the beginning of the driving season in the US and economic growth in China. (b) Middle distillate prices on the other hand decreased due oversupply in the markets.
“These factors led to higher contributions to the Basic Fuel Prices of petrol by 68.03 c/l, and lower contributions to diesel and illuminating paraffin by 45.99 c/l and 21.00 c/l respectively. The LP Gas prices are decreasing due to the lower prices of Propane and Butane during the period under review,” the department said in a statement on Tuesday.
According to the department, other factors such as the Rand/Dollar Exchange and crude oil prices also contributed to the changes in prices.
“The average Brent Crude oil price increased from 79.24 US Dollars (USD) to 82.20 USD during the period under review. The main contributing factors are…the Chinese GDP growth data, which is driven mainly by household consumption, mainly services; and [the] OPEC+ announcement of a further oil production cut of around 3.66 million barrels per day on 02 April 2023. The impact of this will be experienced in the coming months when the production cuts are implemented.
“The Rand appreciated, although slightly on average, against the US Dollar (from 18.30 to 18.12 Rand per USD) during the period under review when compared to the previous one. This led to lower contributions to the Basic Fuel Prices of petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin by 12.25 c/l, 11.98 c/l and 11.62 c/l, respectively,” the department said.
Source: South African Government News Agency