Zambian diesel is K26.86 a litre — the ERB left September 2026 unchanged. That is about US$1.41, and it makes Zambia the cheapest diesel of the six SADC countries we track. It is also 21% below the year’s May peak of K33.99, so a rate you priced in the winter is now carrying fuel cost that has gone.
The one-line version. A Lusaka–Johannesburg run through Chirundu and Beitbridge is 1 623 km on the road. At K26.86 and 2.5 km per litre the diesel is about K17 440, roughly US$916. The same fuel bought at South Africa’s inland wholesale price would cost about US$1 173. Fill in Zambia.
Who sets the price, and how often
the Energy Regulation Board sets one uniform national pump price for the whole country, and reviews it monthly. The new price is announced in the last days of the month and takes effect at midnight on the first.
That word uniform is worth pausing on, because it is unusual in this region. Tanzania publishes a different cap for every town and Mozambique a different price for every province — so in both, a litre costs more the further inland you buy it. Zambia does not do that. Diesel at Nakonde costs what diesel in Lusaka costs. For anyone running the Copperbelt or the long haul to the Tanzanian border, that removes a variable you have to carry everywhere else.
| Price from 1 September 2026 | Change | |
|---|---|---|
| Diesel | K26.86 | unchanged |
| Petrol | K25.29 | unchanged |
| Kerosene | K27.02 | unchanged |
| Jet A-1 | K28.71 | unchanged |
The trend: 13 months, from the ERB’s own notices
The ERB is the best-documented fuel regulator in this batch. It publishes a monthly Pump Price Build-Up PDF every month and a downloadable workbook of pump and wholesale prices going back to 2012 — so unlike most of its neighbours, this table is read from the regulator, not assembled from news reports.
| Effective | Diesel | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 September 2025 | K25.02 | — | ERB SEPTEMBER-2025-PUMP-PRICE-BUILD-UP.pdf |
| 1 October 2025 | K26.20 | +1.18 | ERB OCTOBER-2025-PUMP-PRICE-BUILD-UP.pdf |
| 1 November 2025 | K25.35 | -0.85 | ERB NOVEMBER-2025-PUMP-PRICE-BUILD-UP.pdf |
| 1 December 2025 | K26.98 | +1.63 | ERB DECEMBER-2025-PUMP-PRICE-BUILD-UP.pdf |
| 1 January 2026 | K25.11 | -1.86 | ERB JANUARY-2026-PUMP-PRICE-BUILD-UP.pdf |
| 1 February 2026 | K24.50 | -0.61 | ERB FEBRUARY-2026-PUMP-PRICE-BUILD-UP.pdf |
| 1 March 2026 | K23.25 | -1.25 | ERB MARCH-2026-PUMP-PRICE-BUILD-UP.pdf |
| 1 April 2026 | K29.78 | +6.53 | ERB APRIL-2026-PUMP-PRICE-BUILD-UP.pdf |
| 1 May 2026 | K33.99 | +4.21 | ERB MAY-2026-PUMP-PRICE-BUILD-UP.pdf |
| 1 June 2026 | K32.11 | -1.89 | ERB JUNE-2026-PUMP-PRICE-BUILD-UP.pdf |
| 1 July 2026 | K28.11 | -4.00 | ERB JULY-2026-PUMP-PRICE-BUILD-UP.pdf |
| 1 August 2026 | K26.86 | -1.25 | press record of the ERB announcement of 31 July 2026 (no ERB build-up PDF published for August) |
| 1 September 2026 | K26.86 | no change | ERB SEPTEMBER-2026-PUMP-PRICE-BUILD-UP.pdf |
What it shows
- The year’s low was March, at K23.25. The year’s high was May, at K33.99 — 46% higher, seven weeks later.
- The whole move happened in two months. March to April added K6.53, April to May another K4.21. Nothing in the previous seven months moved by more than K1.63.
- It has fallen every month since May except this one, and is now 21% off the peak.
- Net over 13 months: +7.3%. A year-on-year figure would tell you almost nothing happened. The middle of the year is the story.
What actually drove it — three forces, and two of them are local
Most operators experience a fuel increase as weather. It is not. It is three separable things, and the ERB publishes enough to take them apart.
| Force | What happened in 2026 | Who controls it |
|---|---|---|
| The global product price | The April–May spike is a world event, not a Zambian one. Tanzania’s regulator dates it precisely: a conflict beginning 28 February 2026 and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which carries about a fifth of the world’s traded oil. Botswana’s regulator measured Brent going from US$69.37 to US$97.23 a barrel between February and 26 March. Every country in this cluster has the same two-month shape on its chart. | Nobody here |
| The kwacha | The ERB cut prices in August while explicitly noting the kwacha was weakening, and held September against upward pressure on both oil and the exchange rate. A weaker kwacha pushes the pump price up even when the dollar oil price is flat. | Nobody here, but it is domestic |
| Tax and margin | This is the lever the government pulled. Excise duty on fuel is suspended and VAT is zero-rated — both lines appear on the ERB’s September build-up as a dash, not a number. That is the reason a K33.99 May did not become something worse. | The government |
Read the build-up and you find your own industry inside the fuel price. The ERB’s September notice carries a line called Transportation cost at K650 per cubic metre — 65 ngwee on every litre, which is what it costs to move the fuel from the Ndola terminal to the pump. There is a K150/m³ Strategic Reserves Fund levy, a marking fee, a terminal fee, an OMC margin and a dealer margin. Somebody hauls that fuel, and that somebody is us.
What it costs on the Zambian corridors we measure
We hold road-network distances for 225 of our 269 active corridors, and 65 of them touch Zambia — more than any other country in this group. Worked at 2.5 km per litre, which is a loaded interlink on reasonable road. A lighter rig does better and a hard pull does worse — the point is the shape, and your own figure slots straight in.
| Leg | km | Diesel, one way | in USD | Same fuel at the SA wholesale price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lusaka – Chirundu border | 137 | K1 476 | US$78 | US$99 |
| Lusaka – Ndola | 320 | K3 437 | US$181 | US$231 |
| Lusaka – Kitwe (Copperbelt) | 359 | K3 856 | US$203 | US$259 |
| Lusaka – Livingstone | 478 | K5 132 | US$270 | US$345 |
| Lusaka – Kazungula bridge | 545 | K5 858 | US$308 | US$394 |
| Lusaka – Nakonde (Tunduma border) | 1 015 | K10 904 | US$573 | US$733 |
| Lusaka – Johannesburg via Chirundu and Beitbridge | 1 623 | K17 439 | US$916 | US$1 173 |
| Lusaka – Johannesburg via Kazungula and Botswana | 1 869 | K20 075 | US$1 055 | US$1 350 |
The routing decision, in money. Going to Johannesburg through Kazungula and Botswana instead of Chirundu and Beitbridge is 245 km further — about K2 635 (US$138) more diesel, one way. That is the number to hold against the queue at Beitbridge. If Kazungula saves you a day of standing time it pays for itself; if it does not, it is a straight loss. Our Kazungula bridge guide has the crossing detail, and the Chirundu guide covers the other side of the choice.
Where diesel is cheaper across the border
This is the part that has genuinely changed, and most operators are still working off the old answer.
| Diesel | In USD | What kind of price | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zambia | K26.86 | US$1.41 | uniform national pump price |
| South Africa | R29.11 | US$1.81 | inland wholesale list — the pump is higher |
| Tanzania | TSh 4 128 at Tunduma | US$1.56 | EWURA cap, the border town |
| Zimbabwe | US$1.95 | US$1.95 | ZERA maximum pump price |
The honest answer: fill in Zambia. Zambian diesel is around 22% below the South African inland wholesale price and roughly 28% below the Zimbabwean ceiling — and because the South African number is wholesale rather than retail, the gap you actually see at two pumps is bigger again. On a northbound run, arriving at Chirundu or Beitbridge with room in the tank is worth real money. On a southbound run, fill before you leave. The Zimbabwean ceiling is here and the South African series is here.
One caution before you plan a trip around it. Running a tank down to arrive nearly empty only pays if the fuel is there when you arrive. Weigh the saving against standing time and against the risk of a dry pump at a border town, and take the saving where the route gives it to you rather than engineering the route around it.
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Questions people ask
What is the diesel price in Zambia now?
K26.86 a litre, the ERB’s uniform national pump price, effective 1 September 2026. The ERB held it unchanged from August. Petrol is K25.29 and kerosene K27.02.
Who sets fuel prices in Zambia?
The Energy Regulation Board, the ERB. It reviews prices monthly, announces in the last days of the month, and publishes the full price build-up — every levy, fee and margin — alongside the headline number.
Is diesel the same price everywhere in Zambia?
Yes. Zambia sets a uniform national pump price, so a litre at Nakonde, Solwezi or Livingstone costs what a litre in Lusaka costs. Tanzania and Mozambique both price by location; Zambia does not.
Is diesel cheaper in Zambia or South Africa?
Zambia, clearly. K26.86 is about US$1.41 a litre against a South African inland wholesale price of about US$1.81 — and South African retail sits above wholesale, so the gap at two pumps is wider than that 22%.
Why did Zambian diesel jump in April and May 2026?
A global product-price shock, not a Zambian one. Regulators across the region date it to a conflict beginning 28 February 2026 and disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Zambian diesel went from K23.25 in March to K33.99 in May, then fell back as global prices eased.
What is the fuel levy in Zambia?
Excise duty on fuel is currently suspended and VAT is zero-rated. Both appear as a dash on the ERB’s September 2026 build-up. What remains inside the price is a terminal fee, a marking fee, a K150 per cubic metre Strategic Reserves Fund contribution, an ERB fee of 0.7%, transport, and the OMC and dealer margins.
How we put this together
Every price in the trend table is the Uniform Pump Price line of the ERB’s own monthly build-up PDF, converted from kwacha per cubic metre to kwacha per litre by dividing by 1 000 and nothing else. We cross-checked all nine months to May 2026 against the ERB’s separate published workbook and they agree to the ngwee. August 2026 is the single month the ERB did not publish a build-up for, and it is marked as such in the table. We update this page with each ERB review. Corridor distances are our own, measured on the road network rather than straight-line. Currency conversions use one dated quote for every post in this set — exchangerate-api.com, reading of 1 September 2026 — so the six countries can be compared with each other. Rates move; the litre price is the number to trust, not the dollar one.
Related: how to price a Zambian corridor job · running the Copperbelt · the Lusaka–Johannesburg corridor · Dar es Salaam to Lusaka · Tanzanian diesel · all fuel and freight cost coverage
