Brent Crude is trading at over $128 now, and the Rand is now 7.80 to the $. At these prices we can anticipate 3 or 4 more months of successive fuel price hikes,with petrol prices breaching R12 a litre by the end of this year.
Every time we have a downward shift, the market forgets what pushed the market up,and when it's up, the market calls it a bubble, blames speculators, or the $ - in short the market looks everywhere except at real fundamental forces.
FT.com:
India, which imports 70 percent of its oil needs to feed its fast-growing economy, on Wednesday raised petrol prices by 11 percent and diesel by 9.4 percent based on pump prices in New Delhi.
Malaysia raised petrol prices 41 percent in a bid to curb its massive subsidies bill, following a similar move in Indonesia where fuel prices jumped by almost 30 percent.
High fuel prices have also hit global airlines. US carrier Continental Airlines said Thursday it will cut 3,000 jobs and pull 67 ageing planes in a massive retrenchment because of rising fuel prices. Two other big US carriers, American and United Airlines, have made similar moves.
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