South Africa · Monthly fuel price change

Fuel price August 2026

The petrol, diesel and paraffin price change of Wednesday 5 August 2026, and what drove it.

Petrol 95
−52c
New price R25.58 a litre (Gauteng)
Diesel 0.05%
+R1.38
New price R26.17 a litre (wholesale)

From Wednesday 5 August 2026, petrol 95 went down 52c a litre to R25.58 in Gauteng, and the wholesale price of diesel (0.05% sulphur) went up R1.38 to R26.17.

All fuels, 5 August 2026

Gauteng pump prices for petrol. Coastal prices are lower by the cost of transport inland. Diesel and paraffin have no single pump price, so these are CEF's wholesale and maximum retail price rows.

Fuel, per litreBeforeChangeAfter
Petrol 95
Gauteng pump price
R26.10−52cR25.58
Petrol 93
Gauteng pump price
R25.94−52cR25.42
Diesel 0.05% sulphur
Wholesale price
R24.79+R1.38R26.17
Diesel 0.005% sulphur
Wholesale price
R25.17+R1.23R26.41
Illuminating paraffin
National maximum retail price
R22.18+R2.03R24.21

What moved it

Each month's change is set by the review period before it, here from Friday 26 June 2026 to Thursday 30 July 2026. Every day of it, CEF compares what fuel actually cost to import (the Basic Fuel Price) with the cost already built into the pump price. The period's average gap, the over- or under-recovery, is how much the price has to move to catch up.

Petrol 95 cost the same to import, on average, as was built into the price. Its import cost averaged R13.44 a litre. On its own that called for a change of 0c. The official change was −52c, 52c less: the rest comes from decisions outside the Basic Fuel Price, such as slate-levy and fuel-levy changes, which the government's announcement sets out.

Diesel (0.05% sulphur) cost on average R1.91 a litre more to import than was built into the price (an under-recovery). Its import cost averaged R17.17 a litre. On its own that called for a change of +R1.91. The official change was +R1.38, 52c less: the rest comes from decisions outside the Basic Fuel Price, such as slate-levy and fuel-levy changes, which the government's announcement sets out.

The rand averaged R16.46 to the US dollar over the period, weaker than the R16.38 of the period before (a weaker rand pushes fuel prices up).

Figures from CEF's daily Basic Fuel Price reports (cefgroup.co.za): prices from its pump, wholesale and maximum retail price rows, the averages from the last report of the period.

The next change

The price changes on the first Wednesday of every month. The live forecast shows where the next one is heading, worked out from CEF's reports every day, and the fuel price history has every month's change.