{"id":801117,"date":"2024-11-23T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-23T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=801117"},"modified":"2024-11-22T16:58:19","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T14:58:19","slug":"major-pain-for-coffee-and-tea-lovers-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/801117\/major-pain-for-coffee-and-tea-lovers-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Major pain for coffee and tea lovers in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While South Africa’s headline inflation rate eased more than expected in October, coffee and tea lovers in the country are still reeling from much higher prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest CPI data from Stats SA recorded inflation at 2.8% in October 2024, down from 3.8% in September and well-below the South African Reserve Bank’s target range of 4.5%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main driver of the lower rate was falling fuel prices – where petrol and diesel prices declined by 5.3% between September and October, taking the annual rate for fuel to -19.1%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The price for inland 95-octane petrol in October was R21.05, the cheapest since February 2022 when the price was R20.14.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adding to the relief, after remaining steady for six months in the 4.5\u20134.7% range, annual inflation for food & non-alcoholic beverages (NAB) retreated to 3.6% in October. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the lowest rate since November 2019 (3.5%). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inflation cooled for most food & NAB subcategories in October, except for sugar, sweets & desserts and cold beverages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notably, even though it registered a lower inflation rate in October, hot beverages continued to register the highest inflation print among all food & NAB categories at 14.1%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rate has eased from 17.6% in July, but remains significantly higher than headline inflation – and coffee and tea lovers would have seen a notable price increases for instant coffee, drinking chocolate and black tea in the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breaking down the data, instant coffee drinkers would have seen prices increase 17.3% between January and October 2024 – year on year, this is up just under 20%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those who prefer ground coffee and coffee beans, the price hikes have been a bit lower, though off a higher base, shooting up 10-11%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tea drinkers haven’t been spared either, with prices up 18% year-on-year, and 15% year-to-date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drinking chocolate, which includes items like Milo or hot chocolate, are also suffering for many of the same reasons as coffee (up 20% Y0Y and 16% YTD).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/th>Oct 2023<\/th>Jan 2024<\/th>Oct 2024<\/th>YoY %<\/th>YTD %<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Instant Coffee<\/td>R57.65<\/td>R58.86<\/td>R69.02<\/td>+19.7%<\/td>+17.3%<\/td><\/tr>
Ground Coffee \/ Coffee Beans<\/td>R98.88<\/td>R98.39<\/td>R109.14<\/td>+10.4%<\/td>+10.9%<\/td><\/tr>
Ceylon Tea<\/td>R51.61<\/td>R52.96<\/td>R60.64<\/td>+17.5%<\/td>+14.5%<\/td><\/tr>
Rooibos Tea<\/td>R47.66<\/td>R48.88<\/td>R53.13<\/td>+11.5%<\/td>+8.7%<\/td><\/tr>
Drinking Chocolate<\/td>R74.33<\/td>R77.05<\/td>R89.27<\/td>+20.1%<\/td>+15.9%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The primary factor behind these price spikes is declining coffee harvests in major producing countries affected by climate-related challenges and global conflicts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brazil, the world\u2019s largest coffee producer, responsible for nearly 40% of global output, saw reduced yields in its 2023 harvest due to unusually heavy rainfall in the Minas Gerais region, which fostered pest and disease outbreaks that significantly impacted crop yields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vietnam, the leading producer of robusta coffee, which is essential for instant coffee, has grappled with prolonged drought and high temperatures for two consecutive years, resulting in consistently lower harvests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, Indonesia faced pollination issues caused by excessive rainfall, while Colombia saw yield reductions due to similar climate disruptions during its growing season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Market analysts have noted that certain coffee types\u2014like the Arabica bean\u2014have hit 48 year highs in nominal terms, and some of the highest levels since 2011 in real terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disruptions to global supply chains have left stocks extremely low, and prices aren’t expected to improve until the next harvest and planting season produces yields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means that South African coffee lovers should strap in for higher prices to stick around for some time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Read: What to expect for interest rates in South Africa in 2025<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite inflation coming down in October – the price of tea and coffee continues to climb, and the outlook is not rosy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":791589,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-801117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801117","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=801117"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":801119,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801117\/revisions\/801119"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/791589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}