April fuel price increases: A wallop awaits at the pumps

Government has announced the official fuel price increases for April and consumers are in for a price shock.

As of next Wednesday, 7 April 2021, all grades of petrol, diesel, paraffin and gas will be increasing.

This as data from Statistics SA this week showed that more than half a million full-time jobs were lost during last year, while gross earnings also declined.

Consumers are under pressure given the impact of Covid-19 and the hard lockdown on the economy. While 76,000 jobs were added in the last quarter of 2020, 565,000 people lost their jobs between December 2019 and December 2020.

The Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, said in a statement on Thursday evening that main reasons for the fuel price adjustments are due to:

• The average Brent Crude oil price increasing from $61.10 to $64.00 per barrel during the period under review,
• The international prices of petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin increasing by about 61.72 c/l, 27.22 c/l and 25.26 c/I respectively,
• The Rand depreciating, on average, against the US Dollar from R14.76 to R14.95 during the period under review when compared to the previous one (adding approximately 10.00 c/l), and
• The Fuel and Road Accident Fund levies increasing by 16.00c/l and 11.00c/l, respectively.

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As of next Wednesday the fuel adjustment will be:

• Petrol (both 93 ULP and LRP): 95.00 c/l increase,
• Petrol (both 95 ULP and LRP): 100.00 c/l increase,
• Diesel (0.05% sulphur): 65.20 c/l increase,
• Diesel (0.005% sulphur): 63.20 c/l increase;
• Illuminating Paraffin (wholesale): 34.80 c/l increase,
• The Single Maximum National Retail Price of illuminating paraffin: 35.00 c/l increase, and
• Maximum LPGas Retail Price: 48.00 c/kg increase.

The minister added that the he had approved the implementation of “revised zone differentials into the price structures of petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin”.

This is the annual levy built into fuel prices for road transport and consists of 0.0 c/l at the coast and a decrease of 2.8 c/l in Gordonia South Magisterial District Pricing Zone.

“The primary transport tariffs applicable to the transport of petrol and diesel mainly by means of the pipeline network will increase. The highest increase will amount to 1.2 c/l (Zone 9C-Gauteng). Because of the different transport tariff adjustments to be effective on the 7th of April 2021, price changes to similar products will differ in the 54 Magisterial District Pricing Zones.”

On Wednesday this week, the Automobile Association (AA) forecast a R1 increase for the price of petrol and a 66 cent increase for diesel.

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