In a brief respite for consumers, annual inflation was unchanged at 5.2% in May, Statistics SA reported on Wednesday.
The annual inflation rate of goods last month was 5.7%, unchanged from April, and for services, it was 4.7%, up from 4.6%.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation remained steady at 4.7% in May, unchanged from April, while the miscellaneous goods and services category recorded an annual rate of 7.1%, slightly softer than 7.2% in April.
May saw an uptick in inflation for hot beverages, oils & fats, fish, fruit, vegetables and meat. Hot beverages quickened from 11,4% in April to 14.2% in May, the highest since January 2023 (16.4%). Inflation for instant coffee, ground coffee or coffee beans and black tea stands above 10%. Instant coffee prices rose by an annual 17,9%, up from 13.8% in April.
Digging a little deeper into the data, the average price for instant coffee (250g) was 82% higher in May 2024 than in January 2017 (when Stats SA started publishing average prices). Many coffee drinkers enjoy sugar and milk in their favourite brew, and these have also risen in price over the same period, although not as sharply as coffee.
More consumer prices on our Outlier dashboard.