The first Wednesday of the month did what it always does. It took the money before you got to work.
Petrol 93 and 95: plus R1.34. Diesel 500ppm wholesale: plus R2.94. Diesel 50ppm wholesale: plus R3.15. Illuminating paraffin wholesale: plus R2.13. LPG in Gauteng: plus 69c a kilogram.
Inland pumps after the flip: 93 at R26.76, 95 at R26.92. Coastal 95 at R26.05. Inland diesel wholesale: R29.11 for 500ppm, R30.05 for 50ppm. Coastal 50ppm wholesale: R28.79. Diesel at the pump is not the regulated petrol number. The truck still pays it.
This is not a one-day mood. From March to this morning, 95 petrol has climbed R6.58. Wholesale diesel has climbed about R10.75. August cut petrol 52c and still raised diesel. September gave the petrol back and then some.
DMPR and CEF built the number the usual way. Basic fuel price follows international product and shipping plus the rand. Then the fixed levies. Then the slate. The cumulative slate was R9.519 billion in the hole at the end of July. So from today the slate levy is 83.28c on every litre of petrol and diesel. That is not OPEC. That is last month’s under-recovery coming back as a line item.
Middle East supply risk moved the oil. The levy moved the rest. Forecourt wages sat in the structure too. None of that changes the receipt.
A 50-litre 95 tank inland is about R67 more than last month. A 80-litre diesel bakkie at wholesale 50ppm is about R252 more before the dealer margin. Food still travels on that diesel.
A regulated petrol price and a wholesale diesel reference, reset on the first Wednesday. Oil and freight set the floor. The slate levy recovers the hole. Diesel feeds the trucks that feed the shops. That is why R3 on diesel is not the same story as R1.34 on petrol.
The taxi does not absorb R30 diesel. Neither does the baker. The increase lands in the fare, the loaf, the delivery fee, or the operator’s sleep. If you drive inland 95, the number is R26.92 today. If you wait for a levy holiday, the slate is still R9.5 billion short.
* Does October give any of this back, or does the slate stay fat?
* Does anyone in the Union Buildings touch the levy stack, or is the household the shock absorber again?
* And when diesel logistics reprice, who prints the new sticker first — the retailer or the state?