How fuel prices will affect consumers and business

 

The recent increase in fuel prices worldwide has left consumers outraged, as the higher prices have come at a time when taxation is increasing on top of everything else.

 

In South Africa, the increase has been said to be to cover costs that include maintenance of infrastructure, RDP housing and the new e-Toll system in Gauteng. However, apart from the impact on the direct fuel price, many other industries are also affected by the price changes, which in turn trickle down back to consumers in the form of higher prices across the board.

 

For instance, every commercial industry in the country that relies on any form of transportation find themselves having to increase their prices in order to maintain their profits. Farmers that use transport companies have to pay extra to get their produce into cities. Security companies that use vehicles to patrol suburban areas 24 hours a day have needed to increase their fees in order to maintain that part of the service, and the list goes on.

 

The truth is that the petrol prices in any country in the world that has based its culture on the need to travel (its quite safe to say that almost every major country in the world depends on its transport in order to function from day to day) largely affects every facet of life within that society, and it can clearly be seen that a swing in the price each way will have major effects on the economic stability of that society across the board.

 

Businesses need to learn to account for and adapt to this dependency on fuel prices. One simple way to make this possible is to follow your local chamber of commerce, which will help you to create a professional business-to-business network system with like-minded professionals in your area in order to learn from each other and provide support to the community.

 

The Roodepoort Chamber of Commerce (ROCCI) is one of the biggest Chambers in South Africa, and is comprised of over 100 businesses in the Roodepoort area in Johannesburg. Contact ROCCI on (+27)086 111 3304, send an e-mail for additional information, or visit the ROCCI website to find out more about what is on offer, or how it would benefit you to be a part of this ever-growing inter-business network.