{"id":635789,"date":"2022-10-19T10:21:57","date_gmt":"2022-10-19T08:21:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=635789"},"modified":"2022-10-19T10:31:54","modified_gmt":"2022-10-19T08:31:54","slug":"food-price-shocker-for-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/635789\/food-price-shocker-for-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Food price shocker for South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Annual consumer price inflation slowed marginally to 7.5% in September from 7.6% in August, edging down further from the 13-year high of 7.8% recorded in July.<\/p>\n

The easing of inflation was mainly driven by fuel prices declining for a second consecutive month, contributing to the softer headline rate.<\/p>\n

However, food price inflation continued to accelerate, Stats SA said, hitting 11.9% in September.<\/p>\n

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According to Stats SA, for much of this year, inflation has been driven mainly by sharp increases in food & non-alcoholic beverages (NAB) and fuel prices.<\/p>\n

The CPI, excluding these two categories, registered an annual increase of 4.9%, up from 4.6% in August, indicating that higher inflation has spread beyond these two groups.<\/p>\n

Fuel prices declined by 6.4% between August and September. This slowed the annual rate to 34.1%, which is down from the high of 56.2% reported in July.<\/p>\n

However, despite the softening of fuel prices,\u00a0annual food & NAB inflation continues to accelerate, increasing to 11.9% from 11.3% in August.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Bread & cereal and meat inflation showed a similar pattern, it said.<\/p>\n

The annual rate for bread & cereals accelerated to a 13-year high of 19.3% in September. Annual meat inflation increased from 9.2% to 9.9% – however, both increases were lower than in the previous month.<\/p>\n

“After sustained price increases during much of the year, the index for oils & fats tumbled by 6.1 percentage points between August and September. This dragged the annual rate down to 29% from 37.6% in August,” Stats SA said.<\/p>\n

Prices for sunflower oil decreased by 8.0 percentage points in the month, with the average price of a 750 ml bottle of cooking oil falling to R41.38 from a high of R45.33 in July.<\/p>\n

Despite this decrease, the price is still significantly higher than the R30.98 consumers paid in September 2021.<\/p>\n

There were also notable price increases for rentals, clothing, accommodation services and personal care, Stats SA data showed.<\/p>\n

Here are the items with inflation above 10%<\/span>, or outside the Reserve Bank’s target range<\/span> of 4% to 6%:<\/p>\n