South African petrol prices – 2010 to 2020

Petrol prices have increased substantially over the past 10 years and have become a common complaint of South African car owners.

Government has previously acknowledged the financial strain that increasing petrol prices have placed on South Africans.

“Government is deeply concerned by the rising cost of petrol in South Africa, which is largely caused by the rand-dollar exchange rate and the price of crude [oil],” said former energy minister Jeff Radebe in October 2018.

However, petrol price increases have been happening for decades and have shown no signs of slowing down.

Information previously provided to the Alberton Record by the Department of Energy shows that the petrol price in the year 2000 was just R1.73 per litre if you average out 95 and 93 unleaded petrol prices.

As of January 2010, petrol prices had increased to between R7.63 and R7.86 depending on where you lived and whether you used 93 or 95 petrol.

Now, however, the petrol price is quickly increasing towards the R15 mark and has already surpassed this for inland 95 unleaded petrol users.

COVID-19 pandemic brings respite

Interestingly, the COVID-19 pandemic offered temporary relief for South African car owners as petrol prices decreased significantly.

Having topped the R16 mark in January 2020, they dropped as low as R11.51 in May.

This was due to global petroleum product prices decreasing significantly because of the weakness of the oil price during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This could have been even more drastic if not for the collapse of the rand’s value when compared to the US dollar – which was thanks to the country being downgraded to junk status.

Petrol prices and crude oil prices both began increasing again in June 2020 as economic activity resumed globally.

South African fuel prices – 2010 to 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of two significant blips in an otherwise steadily-increasing petrol cost for South African motorists.

The other exception was in 2014, when crude oil prices dropped from $110 to $60 per barrel between August 2014 and February 2015.

The AA provides a history of fuel prices on its website, which helps South Africans keep track of local petrol prices.

This data spans across both petrol and diesel prices, and offers data for both inland and coastal prices.

South African petrol prices based on data from 2010 to 2020 can be found below.

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Inland fuel prices – 2010 to 2020

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Coastal fuel prices – 2010 to 2020

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