How much more it costs you to make bacon and eggs for breakfast in South Africa: Index
It costs 12.1% more to fry up a traditional farmhouse breakfast in South Africa compared to a year ago, highlighting the rising cost of living in the country.
Using the South African Breakfast Index – an index tracking the month-to-month prices of ingredients used to make breakfast in the country – the basket of items totals R392.89 in September 2022, versus R350.35 in September 2021.
The South African Breakfast Index is an adaptation of similar indices created abroad. Used by Hard Assets Investor (HAI) in the states and Bloomberg in the UK, it is a price indicator that measures inflation in wholesale food prices.
The prices used in the South African index come from Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) numbers tracked by Statistics South Africa. The reason breakfast is chosen is that it is a common meal that many households in the country would make and is reflective of the real impact of price inflation on daily life.
Stats SA published the latest CPI data from September 2022 on Wednesday (19 October), showing a slight easing of inflation for the month to 7.5% from 7.6% in August.
The easing of inflation was largely driven by a decline in fuel price inflation, which saw the annual rate slow to 34.1%, down from the high of 56.2% reported in July.
Despite the drop, food prices continued to soar, with food & non-alcoholic beverages (NAB) increasing to 11.9% from 11.3% in August.
Stats SA noted that the 0.5% monthly increase was lower than the 1.8% monthly rise recorded in August, pointing to signs of food inflation slowing.
Bread and cereal and meat inflation showed a similar pattern, it said.
Breakfast Index
It’s within the food basket that the Breakfast Index is rooted.
Looking at the latest CPI data for September 2022, the overall cost to make breakfast (for however many people the basket could conceivably feed) is at R392.89, up 0.4% from R391.23 in August 2022.
Year on year, the basket is up 12.1% from R350.35 in September 2021 and up almost 33% over the last five years from R296.03 in September 2017.
The basket includes 10 items:
- Milk
- Coffee
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Bacon
- Sausage
- Mushrooms
- Tomato
- Butter
- Bread
The table below outlines the changes:
| Breakfast item | Quantity | September 2021 | August 2022 | September 2022 | MoM% | YoY% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loaf of brown bread | 700 grams | R13.23 | R16.32 | R16.69 | 2.3% | 26.2% |
| Bacon | 200 grams | R33.25 | R36.90 | R36.48 | -1.1% | 9.7% |
| Sausage | Per kg | R90.91 | R99.82 | R98.10 | -1.7% | 7.9% |
| Full cream milk | 2 litre | R30.11 | R33.08 | R33.03 | -0.2% | 9.7% |
| Eggs | 6 eggs | R18.92 | R20.81 | R20.54 | -1.3% | 8.6% |
| Margarine | 500 grams | R32.23 | R34.59 | R33.50 | -3.2% | 3.9% |
| Tomatoes | Per kg | R18.31 | R25.81 | R27.05 | 4.8% | 47.7% |
| Mushrooms | 250 grams | R27.44 | R27.95 | R27.74 | -0.8% | 1.1% |
| White sugar | 2.5kg | R47.17 | R48.71 | R49.74 | 2.1% | 5.4% |
| Instant coffee | 250 grams | R38.78 | R47.24 | R50.02 | 5.9% | 29.0% |
| Total | R350.35 | R391.23 | R392.89 | 0.4% | 12.1% |
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