Retailers to get bigger share of petrol price
The government would cut the proportion of fuel prices kept by wholesalers while boosting the margin allocated to petrol retailers to reward companies that invested in the industry, the Department of Energy said yesterday. The new pricing system, implemented from December 4, would better align the returns received from fuel sales with investment, Robert Maake, the director of fuel pricing at the department, said in Pretoria. Petrol prices are regulated down to retail level and recalculated monthly to take account of movements in the rand and oil prices, and changes to taxes. Currently, retailers get R1.04 for each litre sold and wholesalers get 58c. Inland petrol prices were dropped to R13.02 a litre this month. The adjusted margins and the price for next month will be released today. “If we follow the principle that margins should follow investment, it makes sense that some companies will be taking less,” Avhapfani Tshifularo, the executive director of the SA Petroleum Industry Association, said. – Bloomberg