Huge fuel hike, but more to come

INLSA

Motorists queue at the Caltex Windermere station in Morningside yesterday to fill up before todays petrol price hike of 93c a litre, the highest petrol increase in the countrys history.

Petrol stations across Durban had queues of motorists yesterday, with some stations close to running dry as the highest petrol price increase in the country’s history came into effect last night – and economists said motorists should brace for more hikes.

The 93c/litre hike as of midnight sees consumers paying R11.62 at the coast and R11.97 a litre in Gauteng, and will cause further financial constraints in the months to come, economists warn.

Bilal Mansoor, who manages the Sasol station in Cowie’s Hill, Durban, said they were very busy throughout the day, but he had enough supply to meet the demand last night.

“We received fuel last night [Monday night], and while there have been queues of motorists, we are managing.”

He said an emergency request for fuel would be made if needed, but with many stations thinking along the same lines, it was not certain when, or if, that fuel would arrive.

Caltex Windermere station owner Richard Bouffe was sweating yesterday evening as he was close to running dry.

“We have all made requests for emergency fuel, which has put a lot of pressure on the petrol depot.”

He said tankers were lined up at the depot waiting for their loads to deliver to stations.

Bouffe said it had been a busy day because of the big price hike.

“Traffic through the garage has been continuous since the morning,” he said

Rooksana Yusuf, manager of the BP station in Clare Road, Clare Estate, said her team had been on their feet the entire day.

“A lot of fuel has been used, but we are still managing with the demand, and we are expecting a delivery soon,” she said.

She added that several stations around Durban had already run dry, and were awaiting fuel deliveries.

Yusuf said the queues of motorists built up significantly during afternoon peak traffic times.

Economists say the hike means that consumers will have to dig even deeper into their pockets following a steep increase in food and electricity prices this year.

However, that was not the end of fuel price hikes, said Dawie Roodt, Efficient Group chief economist. Roodt said that although this increase was a steep one, consumers could expect to see another increase of about 20c/litre next month.

He said that the hike was mainly owing to the increase in oil prices internationally, as well as to the weakened rand. He said the Marikana miners “debacle” could have had an indirect hand in the weakening of the rand.

Roodt said consumers would be faced with a tough couple of months, especially poorer consumers as most of their income went towards food and living costs.

“We are still lucky. There are families out there who can’t even afford food. How will they now get to work and back with everything just going up and up?” he asked.

Consumer Union’s Cliff Johnston said there was no real relief in sight for the consumer.

“Apart from the direct impact the fuel increase will have on the consumer, they will also have to face the indirect impact of everything from food to clothing and transport going up.

“The problem is that even should the fuel price drop in the future, food and clothing prices will not,” he said.

Johnston said another big concern was the drought in the US.

“The price of wheat will increase, meaning bread will cost more, which will have a direct implication on many South Africans, literally robbing them of their bread and butter,” he said.