With a little over a week to go before the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) passes judgement on South Africa’s fuel prices for August 2025, the Central Energy Fund (CEF) has stepped up with yet another predictive snapshot (captured 25 July) that tells the same story as last time: diesel drivers are in for a nasty shock at the pumps, while petrol guzzlers will likely get away with a relatively decent price cut.

Don’t say we didn’t warn you, diesel drivers

Of course, until the DMRE publishes the official changes — which will likely happen early next week — the CEF’s figures below are not set in stone and subject to change. The CEF evaluates the economic factors that influence the price of fuel locally, and uses this data to generate the most accurate fuel price indicators, allowing South Africans to prepare for any coming price hikes or decreases.

Knowing this, it’d be hopeful to the point of lunacy to expect the price of diesel to turn around before next week arrives. The DMRE typically tends to adjust South Africa’s pumps on the first Wednesday of the new month (6 August), but makes an official decision days before that. So while the expected diesel price hike could technically trend downwards before this, it’s unlikely to go very far in either direction.

In other words, diesel drivers should expect to pay up to 60c/l more than they did in July.

Both the CEF and DMRE rely on the Rand/US Dollar exchange rate as well as the price of oil globally to determine South Africa’s fuel prices. While the Rand has remained steady throughout July, oil prices have not — with international squabbles lending themselves to a sudden upheaval in oil prices. These have since settled, but other factors have come into play, like seasonal demand in the northern hemisphere, hiking prices.

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