Motorists can breathe a sigh of relief as huge fuel price drops have been confirmed for January 2026.

The Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources on Sunday announced the adjustment of fuel prices, which will take effect from Wednesday, 7 January 2026.

Wednesday’s price decrease will be the first time that petrol drops below R21 since early 2022.

Big drop for petrol, even bigger decrease for diesel

There are across-the-board decreases in fuel prices, except for LPG, which sees a slight increase:

• Petrol 93 (ULP & LRP): Sixty-two cents per litre (62.00 c/l) decrease.
• Petrol 95 (ULP &LRP): Sixty-six cents per litre (66.00 c/l) decrease.
• Diesel (0.05% sulphur): One hundred and thirty-seven cents per litre (137.00
  c/l) decrease.
• Diesel (0.005% sulphur): One hundred and fifty cents per litre (150.00 c/l)
  decrease.
• Illuminating Paraffin (wholesale): One hundred and ten cents per litre (110.00
  c/l) decrease.
• SMNRP for IP: One hundred and forty-eight cents per litre (148.00 c/l)
  decrease.
• Maximum Retail Price of LPGas: Twenty-one cents per kilogram (21.00 c/kg)
  increase and a twenty-three cents per kilogram (23.00 c/kg) increase in the
  Western Cape.

South Africa’s fuel prices are adjusted monthly, informed by international and local factors.

International factors include the fact that South Africa imports both crude oil and finished products at a price set at the international level, including importation costs, like shipping.

One of the reasons for January’s fuel price adjustments is crude oil prices for the period under review. This is because there is currently an oversupply of oil in the market due to increased production by OPEC+ and non-OPEC producers.

In addition, the average international product prices of petrol followed the decreasing trend
of crude oil.

Another big factor is the Rand/US Dollar exchange rate. The Rand appreciated on average, against the US Dollar (from 17.22 to 16.85 Rand per USD) during the period under review when compared to the previous one.

This led to lower contributions to the Basic Fuel Prices of petrol, diesel and Illuminating Paraffin by 20,80 c/l, 22.31 c/l and 22.54 c/l, respectively.