Braai lovers in South Africa have a reason to celebrate

The South African Braai Index for February 2025 shows a turnaround in price inflation for the country’s favourite pastime, breaking the bad news trend over the past two months.

Prices to host a braai in the country have declined 2.2% between January and February, while pricing is only a fraction higher than the same time last year.

This is far lower than the inflation figures recorded for food (excluding alcoholic beverages) in the 12 months to January, which came in at 2.3% higher year-on-year.

Month-on-month, the Braai Index was also lower than the 0.4% food price inflation recorded.

The latest data from Stats SA showed that food prices were softer than overall inflation—which was up marginally to 3.2%—and lower than the numbers at the end of 2024.

Inflation has slowed for most categories of food, including the key component of any braai: meat.

Meat prices were, on average, 0.5% lower in January 2025 compared with January 2024, and marked the third month that the meat CPI has been in deflation.

“This is mainly the result of a downward trend in the price index during 2024. However, in January prices increased by 0.8% month-on-month, following a 0.5% rise in December,” Stats SA noted.

This is also reflected in the Braai Index, which showed a 4.4% and 4.9% decline respectively in beef and wors prices between January and February 2025. Year-on-year, the declines were 3.8% and 4.3%.

Frozen chicken prices also recorded small declines of 0.3% and 1.4% month-on-month and year-on-year, respectively.

But it’s not just meat. Vegetable prices, including carrots, onions and potatoes were all lower in both measures, meaning salads are sorted.

There were some price hikes, however, especially with samp and maize. This has wider implications than just the shelf price for consumers.

Because these food categories are also tied to animal feed, agri businesses have warned that higher feed costs could lead to increases, albeit modest, in poultry products and other red meat prices.

The latest Producer Price Index (PPI) reflects this, showing that prices in the starches and starch products and animal feeds categories lifted by 5.9% year-on-year at the start of the year versus 4.9% in December.

A breakdown of the PPI food basket revealed that the price of meat and meat products increased by 1.9% year over year in January from 1.1% in December, which points to the trendline possibly turning.

However, Gert Blignaut, CEO of Beefmaster Group, said in January that the industry expects consumer spending to lift in 2025, which should create a better picture for both producers and consumers overall.

Month-on-month index change [-2.2%]

Year-on-Year index change [+0.3%]

Cheapest Braai in South Africa

The Braai Index was conceptualised by Bloomberg and is compiled using the latest data from the Pietermaritzburg Equity Justice and Dignity (PMGEJD)—in this case, February 2025.

The index looks at the food items used in the preparation of braai, and tracks the movement in prices of this specific basket month-on-month and year-on-year.

This includes meat (Beef, wors, chicken portions), vegetables (spinach, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, green pepper) and others (samp, maize, curry powder, salt).

The PMBEJD’s data is a comprehensive comparison that reflects the real-world prices of 44 foods at 47 supermarkets and 32 butcheries across South Africa.

While the group largely tracks areas that serve the low-income market, these reflect prices in the greater areas of Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town, as well as more remote regions like Pietermaritzburg, Springbok in the far north-west and Mtubatuba in the far north-east.

Regionally, the more remote areas tend to carry the higher costs, likely reflecting the distribution premium attached to getting goods out there.

The Braai Index basket—which has braai items in varying sizes, not necessarily reflecting the price of a single braai—totaled R1,889.82 in February 2025.

This is how the basket prices differed across the regions:

• Pietermaritzburg: R1,879.25 (-R10.57)
• Johannesburg: R1,888.97 (-R0.85)
• National: R1,889.82
• Cape Town: R1,892.44 (+R2.62)
• Durban: R1,958.44 (+R68.62)
• Mtubatuba: R2,042.79 (+R152.97)
• Springbok: R2,222.25 (+R332.43)