Beitbridge, Vic Falls fuel queues explained
FUEL queues recently seen in the Beitbridge and Victoria Falls border towns are a result of exchange rate distortions that have seen cross border truckers preferring to refuel locally, as opposed to South Africa and Zambia, a senior Government official has said.
However, some fuel companies that appeared to have been caught unawares by the recent upsurge in demand have assured Government that they have increased product supply in the two border towns to contain the situation.
Fuel queues were last week witnessed in the two border towns, sparking social media speculation that the fuel situation was fast deteriorating.
However, the situation has remained normal across the country with retailers reporting adequate stocks of both petrol and diesel.
In an interview with The Sunday Mail Business on Thursday, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Power Development, Mr Patson Mbiriri said the motoring public should not panic as the situation is normal.
“Some unscrupulous motorists with access to US dollars are now selling their hard currency on the parallel market at a premium in exchange of plastic money before buying fuel, thus effectively affording themselves a huge discount.
“Instead of $1,25 per litre, effectively they are buying their diesel at just over $0, 70c in the case of diesel and $0, 80 from $1, 38 per litre for petrol.
“This has resulted in local fuel becoming much cheaper for them, compared to the situation in the region where South Africa is selling petrol for between R15, 6 to R16, 03, which translates to about US$1 per litre,” he explained.
South African Energy Minister Mr Jeff Radebe’s approval of a marginal retail increase in fuel price to accommodate a wage increase for service station workers has also put pressure on prices across the border, thus further transferring cross motorists’ refuel preference to Zimbabwe.
In Zambia, the energy regulator, in its latest fuel price adjustment, approved a pump price adjustment to 13,75 kwacha, which translates to US$1, 41 per litre for petrol and 12,01 kwacha per litre for diesel, thereby making Zimbabwean fuel cheaper.
“At the moment, we have adequate supplies of fuel.
“There have, however, been teething problems at our border posts, in particular in Beitbridge as well as in Victoria Falls,” Mr Mbiriri told The Sunday Mail Business last week.
“There has been an increase in the uptake of fuel, especially by truckers. Whereas in the past, most truckers used to fuel their tanks in their respective countries, they now prefer refuelling in Zimbabwe.”
Some trucks have the capacity to hold as much as 2 000 litres of fuel.
He said while the new phenomenon caught both Government and fuel retailers by surprise, the retailers have already responded by sending more supplies to the border towns to deal with the demand.
As a result, retailers are set to record huge profits from the increased business. The permanent secretary said supplies remain steady in the country and the source.
“There is always speculation on availability of fuel on the market. This is largely originating from our constrained position in terms of foreign currency and foreign currency allocation. But in terms of foreign currency allocation, fuel is the number one priority in as far as the central bank is concerned, it certainly gets a lion’s share of whatever foreign currency we receive so there is no need to worry about any shortages.
“Other than that, we have a normal supply and we continue to receive allocations from the RBZ, the latest being yesterday. We have enough in the country, we have stocks on the way, our pipeline is pumping fuel 24 hours a day and we have stocks in Beira. The supply chain is very much stable,” said Mr Mbiriri.