With petrol prices increasing rapidly due to the Middle East Tension Localisation Support Fund (LSF) presented new research on Wednesday into the development of a sorghum biofuel value chain in South Africa.
New research presented by the Localisation Support Fund (LSF) has highlighted sorghum-based biofuels as a potential solution to South Africa’s growing fuel vulnerability amid rising petrol prices linked to escalating Middle East Tension.
Speaking at the presentation on Wednesday, Josie Rowe-Setz from Blueprint Holdings said South Africa’s increasing dependence on imported refined fuel has left the country highly exposed to global oil price volatility and geopolitical instability.
“A number of the country's last major coastal oil refineries closed in 2022 and 2023. South Africa now imports approximately 75% of its liquid fuel requirements in already-refined form - a fundamental shift from refiner to refined product importer that has deepened the country's exposure to global supply chains, Gulf region geopolitics, and the volatility of the rand-dollar exchange rate,” she said.
According to the research, petrol prices have surged dramatically over the past decade, with the coastal price of 95 Unleaded Petrol climbing from about R10.83 per litre in January 2015 to a peak of R26.09 per litre in July 2022 before stabilising between R20 and R22 per litre through 2025 and into 2026.
