{"id":784043,"date":"2024-07-25T09:18:55","date_gmt":"2024-07-25T07:18:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=784043"},"modified":"2024-07-25T09:18:59","modified_gmt":"2024-07-25T07:18:59","slug":"the-cheapest-protein-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/784043\/the-cheapest-protein-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"The cheapest protein in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Competition Commission\u2019s Essential Food Pricing Monitoring Report revealed that dry beans are South Africa&#8217;s cheapest protein source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eggs, chicken, and canned pilchards were listed as other cheap protein sources in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Curiously, the Essential Food Pricing Monitoring Report, released on 6 May 2024, said the prices do not reflect consumer demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite being significantly more expensive than dry beans and eggs, chicken is South Africa&#8217;s favoured protein source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dried beans, eggs, and canned pilchards are all value-added tax (VAT) exempt, making them more affordable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chicken, in comparison, is not VAT-exempt. This is because of the challenges associated with accurately classifying meat products aimed at poorer households.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Food prices in South Africa increased significantly over the last three years, placing pressure on poorer households.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They rose 9.2% in 2022 and 10.8% in 2023, which caused household expenditure in South Africa on food to rise to 17%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The report found that protein sources experienced differing levels of inflation over 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is not surprising given the considerable differences in the costs of producing these products and, to some extent, their demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It has reached such concerning levels that President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a plan to change the range of food items exempt from value-added tax (VAT).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Financial challenges have forced many South Africans to change the foods they buy, including their protein sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Price-conscious consumers opted for dry beans, which are the most affordable protein source at R0.32 per gram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other popular options included eggs at R0.48 per gram and Individual Quick Freezing (IQF) chicken at R0.91 per gram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/canned-pilchards.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/canned-pilchards-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-784047\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/canned-pilchards-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/canned-pilchards-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/canned-pilchards-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/canned-pilchards.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>An interesting finding was a big rise in the popularity of canned pilchards despite being more expensive than beans, eggs, and chicken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Canned pilchards cost R1.12 per gram, more than three times the price of dry beans and more than double the price of eggs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Competition Commission said there were many reasons for the rising popularity of canned pilchards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Canned pilchards are easy to store. The cans can be stacked and do not need refrigeration to keep them fresh for a long time.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They are sold in smaller quantities, which gives consumers some flexibility regarding their purchasing patterns.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pilchards are available in various flavours to accommodate consumer tastes without additional expenditure on flavour-enhancing ingredients.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Canned pilchards are zero-rated for value-added tax, which may help them remain more affordable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThese features suggest that pilchards will continue to be important in the food baskets of low-income consumers,\u201d the Competition Commission said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It added that canned pilchards may act as an important buffer when there are shocks in the supply of the other more popular protein sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A good example of such a shock is the avian flu outbreak in South Africa last year, which forced farmers to kill millions of chickens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This disease caused a significant reduction in the production of hatching eggs, causing prices to increase rapidly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/784030\/bad-news-for-tea-and-coffee-lovers-in-south-africa\/\">Bad news for tea and coffee lovers in South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Competition Commission\u2019s Essential Food Pricing Monitoring Report revealed the cheapest protein in South Africa \u2013 and it is not chicken.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":784046,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[20282,20281,1516,20283,20280,20279],"class_list":["post-784043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-canned-pilchards","tag-chicken","tag-competition-commission","tag-dry-beans","tag-eggs","tag-essential-food-pricing-monitoring-report"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=784043"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":784061,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784043\/revisions\/784061"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/784046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=784043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=784043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=784043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}