A rural town in South Africa where people make R25,000 a month has higher food prices than Joburg, Durban, and Cape Town
In May 2026, Mthatha in the Eastern Cape is the most expensive place among South Africa’s major towns and cities for groceries.
However, this is closely followed by Springbok, Johannesburg, Mtubatuba, and Durban, which make up the top five most expensive places for food.
This is according to data from the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity (PMBEJD) group, which tracks the cost of a household food basket across six towns and cities across South Africa.
The PMBEJD report found that while 21 of the 44 tracked food items became cheaper or saw no increases year-on-year, the other 23 experienced price hikes, with four items seeing double-digit inflation.
Annual consumer price inflation spiked to 4.0% year-on-year in April 2026, up from 3.1% in March 2026.
Despite this, annual inflation for food & non-alcoholic beverages (NAB) decreased for a third consecutive month, from 3.6% in March to 2.9% in April. Six of the eleven food & NAB categories recorded lower annual rates.
Continuing the pressure from the Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak in the country, meat prices continued to show high y/y price inflation, recorded at 9.4% for April.
However, meat also registered the largest decline, easing from 11.6% in March.
Beef mince inflation slowed from 22.2% to 15.3% and stewing beef from 22.6% to 8.7%. The rate for pork moderated from 19.5% to 17.7%. The cereal products category recorded its third consecutive month of deflation.
Five of the nineteen items in the category are cheaper than a year ago. These include white rice, maize meal, porridge, basmati rice and bread flour.
Milk, other dairy products & eggs recorded their first annual increase since May 2025.
The rate was 0.1%, up from March’s -0.5%. Powdered milk and eggs continue to occupy deflationary territory, at -3.4% and -5.8% respectively.
Most expensive city
As of May 2026, the average cost of a household food basket in South Africa, comprising 44 essential items that reflect typical purchasing patterns, reached R5,479.26.
The cost of the average household food basket increased by R12.67 (0.2%) from R5,466.59 in May
2025. Month-on-month, the basket price increased by R27.17 compared to April 2026.
However, a breakdown of costs in each city shows that the change in food prices is greater in some areas than others.
In May 2026, the household food basket cost R5,892.11 in Mthatha, a 4.2% increase of R236.51 from the previous year. However, this is also R175.76 more than the basket price of R5,653.34 in April.
Mthatha’s basket price surpassed the national average by R349.85, making it the most expensive place for groceries.
Mthatha (formerly Umtata) is a historic city in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province. Located along the N2 highway, it serves as a major commercial and transport hub for the Wild Coast. It is also renowned as the heartland of leaders like Nelson Mandela.
Mthatha is the main city in the King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality (within the O.R. Tambo District Municipality) in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.
According to the latest tax statistics published by the South African Revenue Service (SARS), the municipality has 41,273 registered taxpayers with an average taxable income of R304,952 a year, or roughly R25,412 a month.
That is slightly higher than the Eastern Cape’s average taxable income of roughly R292,061 annually, or about R24,338 per month.
The household food basket cost R5,723.62 in Johannesburg, a notable 2.0% increase of R113.16 from the previous year, making it the third-most-expensive city behind Springbok in the Northern Cape.
Cape Town overtook Maritzburg to become the cheapest city for groceries, recording further decreases compared to the year before.
Cape Town’s food basket, recorded at R5,222.75, decreased by R206.43 (3.8%) from R5,429.18 in May 2025. However, the city also saw a month-on-month increase of 1.1%, or R54.78, from RR5,167.96 in April.
Durban’s household food basket of R5,284.48 decreased by R143,40 (2,6%) from R5,427.87 in May
2025.
Food basket comparison of several cities in South Africa for May 2026
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