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The price of fuel over the last decade

12 Oct 2017

Fuel price increase! The announcement comes every couple of months, and South Africans dread it more and more. We, as a country, are incredibly sensitive to movements in the fuel price. The average South African's annual fuel expenditure is among the highest in the world. Any person who works on the road will tell you, the cost of keeping your tank full is unbelievable. We feel the pain at every pump.

For example, only in Mexico do people spend more of their salaries on fuel.

4 October 2017 saw the ULP 93 and 95 prices increase by 25c and 29c per litre, respectively. The price of diesel went up by 42c per litre, and paraffin by 39c.

Over the past decade, the prices of petrol and diesel in SA have seen some serious fluctuations. ULP 95 has seen the biggest increase, while the retail price of diesel has mostly been cheaper than petrol. Though, this hasn’t always been the case and is not a trend seen around the world.

One of the key differences in the pricing of diesel versus petrol is that diesel prices reflect wholesale prices, not the price you would pay at the pumps. The retail price of diesel may vary from station to station, depending on the margins applied by each retailer.

The graph and table below show how the prices have changed year-on-year, between August 2007 and now.