Verto says proposed mandatory industry stockholding makes working-capital and currency-risk planning central to the energy-security debate.
South Africa’s proposed shift from voluntary to mandatory strategic petroleum stockholding may strengthen protection against fuel supply shocks, but it also raises a critical business question: how will importers finance more stock without trapping the working capital needed to keep trade moving?
The Draft Strategic Petroleum Stocks Policy was published in Government Gazette No. 54975 on 9 July 2026 and is open for public comment until 12:00 on 9 August 2026. The detailed dual-obligation model in the gazetted draft provides for state strategic stocks equivalent to 60 days of net imports, managed by the South African National Petroleum Company, and 21 days of mandatory stocks for licensed wholesalers and importers.
The gazetted draft uses two sets of figures that will need to be reconciled through the consultation process: its executive summary refers to 90 days of state stocks and an additional 14 days for licensed manufacturers and wholesalers, while the Cabinet statement describes a 60-day state reserve with a phased increase to 90 days over the long term.
“Whatever the final number, the policy direction is clear: more inventory will need to sit in the system for longer,” says Ola Oyetayo, CEO and co-founder of Verto. “That strengthens physical resilience, but it also ties up cash, increases financing and storage requirements, and extends the period in which importers are exposed to exchange-rate movements. Energy security is therefore not only a logistics question; it is also a working-capital and treasury question.”
The gazetted draft says petroleum imports can take 21 to 42 days to reach South African ports, followed by another 10 to 14 days for offloading, refining and transport to inland markets. It assigns private industry responsibility for maintaining mandatory stocks, which would carry inventory, storage and financing implications for affected businesses.
During this import window, supplier invoices, freight charges and other obligations may remain exposed to the US dollar or other foreign currencies, while revenues are earned in rand. Exchange-rate movements can therefore alter landed costs and margin assumptions before the stock is sold.
Verto’s whitepaper, The Hidden Cost of Currency, examines a comparable dynamic in global fruit trade. It reports that fresh-produce shipments can take 30 to 60 days from orchard to retailer. Over that period, currency movements can make landed costs less predictable, compress margins, destabilise pricing and complicate working-capital planning. Although the report focuses on fruit, the treasury principle applies to any import-dependent sector carrying goods across a long procurement cycle.
Verto reports more than $25 billion in annual global cross-border transaction volume and 5,000+ clients globally. Oyetayo says businesses should use the policy consultation as a prompt to stress-test the financial side of resilience.
“Companies should model the cash cost of holding additional inventory, test the effect of rand movements across the full procurement cycle, and review which party carries the currency risk in supplier contracts,” he says. “Where appropriate, forward contracts, multi-currency balances and faster settlement can reduce avoidable uncertainty and help keep capital moving.”
He cautions that financial infrastructure cannot solve every constraint. It cannot create storage capacity, clear congested ports or guarantee access to hard currency. It can, however, improve payment visibility, shorten avoidable settlement delays and give businesses greater control over when they convert and deploy funds.
“The policy consultation is an energy-security debate, but it should also be a treasury debate. The businesses that build buffers without allowing working capital to become trapped will be better placed to absorb the next disruption,” Oyetayo concludes.
SUPPORTING REFERENCES
1. Draft Strategic Petroleum Stocks Policy – Government Gazette No. 54975, Notice 7691 of 2026
2. South African Government public comment notice – deadline: 9 August 2026 at 12:00
3. Cabinet Statement on the Cabinet meeting of 1 July 2026
4. Verto: The Hidden Cost of Currency
5. Verto About Us – current company figures
