Petrol and illuminating paraffin prices are set for a second consecutive month of price decreases when fuel prices are officially adjusted this Wednesday.

This is according to the latest unaudited data from the Central Energy Fund (CEF).

The Automobile Association (AA) says, however, that the data is showing that diesel prices are set to increase.

“The breakdown of the data shows that the average exchange rate used in the basic fuel price decreased over June from around R19.50 to the US Dollar to around R18.80 to the USD, which accounts for most of the petrol price decrease. However, the movement in international oil prices is impacting negatively on diesel, contributing significantly to its expected increase,” notes the AA.

According to the data, both grades of petrol are expected to decrease by between 17c/litre and 25c/l, while diesel is expected to increase by around 20c/litre.

Illuminating paraffin is set for a marginal decrease of three cents a litre.

“A decrease to the price of petrol is naturally welcome news, and will provide some relief to embattled consumers. The increase to diesel, though, means input costs in, amongst other sectors, the agricultural and manufacturing sectors, are also likely to increase which may result in higher prices for consumers,” notes the AA.

Fuel prices for July will be adjusted on 5 July. An official announcement has not yet been communicated, although it’s not expected to differ much from the AA’s prediction.

If the price adjustments fro July stay as they are, the price of 93 unleaded will cost R22.10 a litre inland and 95 unleaded R21.70 at the coast and R22.43 inland.

A litre of diesel will cost as much as R21.57.

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