Best news for groceries in South Africa in 14 years
South Africa’s inflation print has ticked higher, but food inflation has hit a 14-year low.
According to Stats SA, annual consumer price inflation was 2.9% in November 2024, up from 2.8% in October 2024.
The CPI remained unchanged month-on-month in November 2024.
Stats SA said that food inflation is at the lowest level in 14 years.
Annual inflation for food & non-alcoholic beverages (NAB) saw another sharp decline in November, slowing to 2.3% from 3.6% in October.
“This marks the lowest inflation rate for the category since December 2010, when it stood at 1.6%,” said Stats SA.
“Eight of the 11 food & NAB groups registered lower rates, including vegetables; milk, eggs & cheese; hot beverages; bread & cereals; cold beverages; meat; sugar, sweets & desserts; and the miscellaneous category ‘other’ food. Fish inflation was flat, while oils & fats and fruit recorded steeper price increases.”
“The annual rate for bread & cereals moderated further, cooling to its lowest level in almost three years. Important items such as brown bread, white bread, maize meal, cold cereals, pasta and rice recorded lower rates. Inflation quickened for several products, including samp and hot cereals.”
“Annual milk, eggs & cheese inflation declined to its lowest level in almost five-and-a-half years. After burning a hole in households’ food budgets for much of 2024, egg inflation descended into deflationary territory in November, falling to -3.7%. This is down from a high of 39.9% a year ago.”
The graphs below show food and beverage products that recorded significant price changes in November.
In other notable price changes, fuel increased by 0.9% month-on-month in November, taking the annual rate to -13,6% from -19,1% in October.
The price index for the restaurants & hotels category rose by 5.9% in the 12 months to November, with increases recorded for both restaurants (5.1%) and hotels (7.5%).
That said, inflation for restaurants & hotels is down from the recent high of 7.5% in June this year.
Inflation doesn’t hit equally
Stats SA has calculated inflation rates for the expenditure categories, giving insights into the impact of inflation on various socio-economic groups.
The poorest households have shouldered the highest inflation rate since January 2022, peaking at 11.3% in April 2023. However, this declined to 3.8% in November 2024, even if it remains the highest across all expenditure categories.
In contrast, the wealthiest households registered an annual increase of 3.0% in November.
Western Cape has the highest inflation rate
Stats SA also calculates the provincial inflation rates, with the Western Cape recording the highest inflation rate of (3.4%) followed by the Free State (3.2%) and KwaZulu-Natal (3.1%).
Limpopo (2.4%) and Mpumalanga (2.5%) recorded the lowest rates in November.
Loading ...
