Big petrol and diesel price hikes announced — How much more a tank will cost

South African motorists will pay between R54 and R97 more to fill up their petrol cars from Wednesday, 6 March 2024.

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s Central Energy Fund (CEF) announced the upcoming adjustments in fuel prices in a statement on Monday.

The prices of all four primary types of fuel — petrol, diesel, paraffin, and LP gas — will be increased.

The biggest hikes are on unleaded 95 and unleaded 93 petrol prices, which will both become R1.21 more expensive.

These jumps will be reflected directly at the pumps, as the retail price of petrol in South Africa is regulated.

The wholesale price of one litre of 50ppm diesel will also increase by R1.19, while 500ppm diesel’s wholesale price will increase by R1.06 per litre.

The exact changes at the pumps for diesel drivers will depend on their chosen fuel stations, as it can vary greatly depending on the profit margin a station’s owner wishes to apply.

The changes in South Africa’s fuel prices for March 2024 are as follows:

• 93 unleaded petrol (retail) — R1.21 increase
• 95 unleaded petrol (retail) — R1.21 increase
• 500ppm diesel (wholesale) — R1.06 increase
• 50ppm diesel (wholesale) — R1.19 increase
• Illuminating paraffin (wholesale) — R0.64 increase
• Illuminating paraffin (maximum retail) — R0.85 increase
• LPGAS (maximum retail) — R0.41 increase

The table below shows the inland and coastal retail prices of unleaded 93 and unleaded 95 petrol in February and March 2024.

The CEF attributed the latest fuel price increases primarily to higher international product prices for all fuel types during the period under review — 2 February 2024 to 29 February 2024.

In addition, the Rand depreciated against the US Dollar during the same period.

The average exchange rate of R18.77 to the greenback in last month’s period under assessment weakened to roughly R19.02.

“This led to a higher contribution to the Basic Fuel Prices on petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin by 17.71 c/ℓ, 18.74 c/ℓ and 18.53 c/ℓ, respectively,” the CEF said.

Fortunately, the Slate levy remains at zero for the upcoming month.

The table below shows how much more motorists will pay to refill typical fuel tanks in March 2024 compared to February 2024.

Although the prices per tank will differ based on whether the refill is done inland or on the coast, the price increase will be the same.