{"id":645513,"date":"2022-11-23T16:30:55","date_gmt":"2022-11-23T14:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=645513"},"modified":"2022-11-23T16:26:40","modified_gmt":"2022-11-23T14:26:40","slug":"south-african-breakfast-index-mornings-are-getting-a-lot-rougher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/645513\/south-african-breakfast-index-mornings-are-getting-a-lot-rougher\/","title":{"rendered":"South African Breakfast Index: mornings are getting a lot rougher"},"content":{"rendered":"

It costs 11.1% more to fry up a traditional farmhouse breakfast in South Africa compared to a year ago, as the cost of living continues to rise in the country.<\/p>\n

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 needed to make breakfast now totals R395.68 in October 2022, up 11.1% from R356.18 in October 2021.<\/p>\n

The South African Breakfast Index is an adaptation of similar indices created abroad. Used by Hard Assets Investor (HAI) in the US and Bloomberg in the UK, it is a price indicator that measures inflation in wholesale food prices.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Stats SA published the latest CPI data for October 2022 on Wednesday (23 November), showing a surprise turn in inflation, which has now increased marginally to 7.6%<\/p>\n

As has been the case for much of the year, CPI is being driven by rising food prices and still-high fuel prices, with the former now escalating to 12.0% in October.<\/p>\n

According to Stats SA, bread and cereals, alongside meat and dairy, are currently driving food prices higher in South Africa.<\/p>\n

The bread and cereals category continues to witness high levels of inflation, with the annual rate increasing to 19.5% from 19.3% in September. Large monthly price increases were recorded for sweet biscuits (5.5%), macaroni (3.1%) and maize meal (1.7%).<\/p>\n

Annual\u00a0meat inflation also quickened in October, rising to 10.5%\u00a0from 9.9% in September. Beef prices registered large monthly increases, most notably steak (2.5%), stewing beef (1.2%) and mince (1.1%).<\/p>\n

The dairy index (milk, eggs and cheese) registered an annual increase of 10.5%, the highest rate since February 2017 (10.7%). Products recording significant monthly increases include long-life full-cream milk (3.5%), fresh full-cream milk (1.8%) and cheddar cheese (1.2%).<\/p>\n

Breakfast Index<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s within the food basket that the Breakfast Index is rooted.<\/p>\n

Looking at the latest CPI data for October 2022, the overall cost to make breakfast (for however many people the basket could conceivably feed) is R395.68, up 0.7% month-on-month from R392.89 in September 2022.<\/p>\n

Year on year, the basket is up 11.1% from R356.18 in October 2021 and up almost 32% over the last five years from R300.24 in October 2017.<\/p>\n

In line with overall CPI findings, bread is a sizeable contributor to the higher price, up 23% from last year – but it’s actually the instant coffee that has seen the biggest climb at 27%.<\/p>\n

Sausage and milk have also seen significant hikes at 12.6% and 11.1%, respectively, while tomatoes have also seen double-digit price growth at 14.7% – although this is also the only item other than instant coffee to have come down in price month on month since September.<\/p>\n

The basket includes ten items:<\/p>\n