Early petrol price predictions foretell cheaper prices at the pumps

Despite the National Treasury trying its absolute damndest to stick South Africans with a fuel price increase in July, we came out unscathed. In fact, petrol drivers were even treated to a small price decrease of 5c/l, while diesel drivers got away with a more sizeable drop of 37c/l. We may still be celebrating our victory, but the wheel doesn’t stop turning. The Central Energy Fund (CEF) has returned with around round of predictions.

Petrol for the people

That’s pretty par for the course. Regular Stuff readers will know that the CEF always handles the daily predictive snapshots, offering Saffas an easy way to get a head start on next month’s fuel prices. It works in conjunction with the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE), which is officially responsible for adjusting the country’s fuel prices every month — typically on the first Wednesday of a new month.

Until that happens, we’re forced to rely on the CEF’s gathered data to give us an idea of what we’ll be paying at the pumps this July. It’s the most accurate summation of the data available, seeing as the CEF keeps track of those economic factors that can influence the price of fuel locally. We’re talking about the average Rand/US Dollar exchange rate, as well as the average price of unrefined oil globally throughout any given month.

A strong Rand, like we saw in May, and cheaper oil prices internationally typically translate to cheaper fuel prices by the time they reach our cars. South Africa has kept up a remarkably strong streak in 2025, with continually falling prices for much of the year thus far. With the CEF’s latest batch of predictions (captured 6 July 2025), there’s hope that this trend may continue into July. Fingers crossed, yeah?

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Here are the petrol and diesel price predictions (so far) for July 2025:

• Petrol 93: decrease of 27 cents per litre (R0.27)
• Petrol 95: decrease of 25 cents per litre (R0.25)
• Diesel 0.05%: decrease of 40 cents per litre (R0.40)
• Diesel 0.005%: decrease of 38 cents per litre (R0.38)
• Illuminating Paraffin: decrease  of 50 cents per litre (R0.50)