Inflation relief for South Africa
After three months of increase, headline consumer inflation dropped in November.
According to Stats SA, headline consumer inflation cooled to 5.5% in November from 5.9% in October.
There was also a 0.1% monthly decline in the consumer price index (CPI).
The monthly decline was primarily driven by the 5.5% decrease in the fuel price index, which caused the annual rate for fuel to lower from 11.2% in October to 1.8% in November.
This led to a decline in the annual rate for transport, decreasing from 7.4% to 4.3%.
This, in turn, led to a reduction in the annual rate for transport, which decreased to 4,3% from 7,4%.
However, food and non-alcoholic beverages climbed to a four-month high of 9.0%, with meat inflation climbing by 0.1% to 3.5% in November.
“The outbreak of avian flu continued to disrupt the poultry market. The annual rate for IQF (individual quick frozen) chicken was 7.3% in November, up from 5.5% in October,” Stats SA said.
“Non-IQF frozen chicken recorded an annual rate of 9.1% in November. Egg prices continued to boil, heating by a monthly 10.6%. This pushed the annual rate for eggs higher to 39,9% from 24,4% in October.”
Fruit products also saw an annual increase of 11.5% in November – the highest level since December 2020 (11.8%).
Sugar, sweets & desserts also climbed from October’s 17.6% to 18.5%
‘In the 12 months to November, prices for white sugar increased by 21.4%, brown sugar by 23.7% and chocolate slabs by 11.8%,” Stats SA said.
However, annual inflation for bread & cereals continued to decline for the seventh consecutive month, dropping from 8.8% in October to 8.5%
Vegetable inflation also dropped from 23.6% to 23.5%
“Onion prices declined for a fifth straight month, decreasing by 6.1% in November compared with October. Consequently, the annual rate for onions cooled to 2.5%. This reading is much lower than the eye-watering peak of 64,5% recorded in June this year.”
The annual increase in hot beverages was also recorded at 11.4%, with the yearly inflation of instant coffee being double-digit since March 2022, except for August 2023.
Other big changes
Household maintenance services – only surveyed in May and November – recorded an annual rate of 7.4% in November – the highest level since the current CPI series began in 2008.
Pharamaecuutial products saw an annual price increase of 7.5%, with non-prescription medicine products, including vitamin and mineral supplements (up 13.2%), heartburn medication (up 12.6%), pain killers (up 12.3%) and cough syrup (up 10.3%), seeing significant increases.
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