Over 40c hike in petrol price

Cape Town - Petrol will cost R13.34 per litre at the coast and R13.77/litre in Gauteng from next Wednesday if you're using 95 octane, the Department of Energy announced on Friday.

Petrol (93 ULP and LRP) will increase by 44.0c/l and 95 ULP and LRP will increase by 41.0c/l, the department said in a statement on Friday.

Both grades of diesel will increase by 4.0c/l, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) will increase by 56.0c/kg, illuminating paraffin (wholesale) will increase by 6.0c/l, and illuminating paraffin (SMNRP) will increase by 8.0c/l.

“The Department of Energy would like to urge all motorists to continue implementing fuel efficiency measures, such as using public transport and utilising lift clubs whenever possible to ensure that they save fuel,” it said.

“All petroleum products prices will increase with effect from 1 July 2015.

“The increase in the prices of all the petroleum products is due mainly to the weakening of the rand against the US dollar during the period under review.

“The rand lost around 40 cents against the American dollar since the end of May 2015 as a result of negative sentiment on emerging markets globally.

"Furthermore, the international prices for petrol increased on average, while the prices for diesel and Illuminating paraffin decreased. The increase in the international prices of petrol was mainly due to strong demand for petrol (driving season) in Europe and to pre-Ramadan buying in the Asian market,” the department said.

The Automobile Association (AA) said on Thursday it was concerned about the exchange rate, which has weakened from around R11/$ to over R12.30/$ since January.

"If this trend continues and is not offset by reductions in international petroleum prices, fuel prices will begin testing their previous record highs before the end of the year," said the AA.

"The average rand/dollar exchange rate has weakened considerably since the end of May. The rand has lost about 40 cents against the dollar, and this has contributed almost half of the increase which is forecast for the petrol price."

READ: Expect big petrol price hike - AA

In early June the Department of Energy increased all grades of petrol by 47c/litre. Petrol went up by R1.62 in April, but remained unchanged in May.