South Africa’s consumer price index slowed to 4.6% year-on-year in July from 5.1% in June, Statistics SA announced on Wednesday. The last time it was this low was three years ago.
Food inflation has also dipped. The annual rate for food and non-alcoholic beverages is 4.5%, down from 4.6% in June. This is a significant decrease from November 2023’s high of 9%. It is now at its lowest since September 2020.
Despite overall food inflation slowing, some items continue to show upward momentum – especially in the bread and cereals category, with staples being hard hit by crop production shortages. Samp is up 6.9% from this time last year, while mielie meal has risen by an average of 5.1%.
Other products that have recorded hefty price hikes are pizza or pies (+11.6%) and rice (+21.3%). A kilogram of rice cost an average of R34 in July, R9 more than in July 2023. Flour and pasta are, however, all cheaper than a year ago.
Hot beverages continue to steam ahead: 250g of tea cost R57 in July (+R12 from last year) and 250g of instant coffee has increased by R14 to R66.
👀 Track the prices of 22 common items with The Outlier’s Consumer Price dashboard. Note: all average food prices have been rounded