{"id":822953,"date":"2025-05-04T16:01:16","date_gmt":"2025-05-04T14:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=822953"},"modified":"2025-05-04T16:01:16","modified_gmt":"2025-05-04T14:01:16","slug":"the-most-expensive-city-to-buy-groceries-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/822953\/the-most-expensive-city-to-buy-groceries-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"The most expensive city to buy groceries in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In April 2025, Johannesburg remained the most expensive city in South Africa\u2019s three major metros for groceries, followed by Cape Town and then Durban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is according to data from the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity (PMBEJD) group, which tracks the cost of a household food basket across the three major provinces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PMBEJD report found that while 17 of the 44 tracked food items became cheaper or saw no increases year-on-year, 27 experienced price hikes, and six items saw double-digit inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, inflation was surprised by dropping to 2.7% in March 2025, but food inflation remained relatively sticky. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its latest inflation report, Stats SA warned that some food items recorded higher annual rates in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the data, vegetables, fruits and nuts, cereal products, meat, and fish registered higher annual rates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In comparison, oils and fats, hot beverages, milk, other dairy products, eggs, cold beverages, sugar, confectionery, and desserts had lower rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inflation for cereal products accelerated to 4.3% in March from 3.9% in February. Maize meal remains a key driver, accelerating from 10.6% in February to 13.1% in March. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coffee and tea drinkers also continue to feel the pain. Although the annual rate for the hot beverages category declined slightly in March, it remains high at 14.4%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The category has seen double-digit inflation in all but 5 of the 32 months since August 2022. Instant coffee is 18.8% and black tea 12.8% more expensive than a year ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alcoholic beverages also added pressure, with prices rising on average by 2.1% between February and March. This took the annual rate from 4.1% in February to 4.7% in March. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most expensive city<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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As of the end of April 2025, the cost of a household food basket, comprising 44 essential items that reflect typical purchasing patterns, reached R5,420.30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a 1.6% annual increase of R83.99 compared to April 2024. Month-on-month, the basket price saw a similar increase of R90.94 or 1.7%, compared to March 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although this annual increase is lower than the latest consumer price inflation rate of 2.7%, food costs remain a significant concern for many South Africans, especially in urban areas where grocery prices continue to increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A breakdown of costs by region further highlights the disparities. In April 2025, the household food basket cost R5,559.46 in Johannesburg, a 0.9% decrease of R52.72 from the previous year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it is R77.58 more than the recorded basket price of R5,481.88 in March. It also surpasses the national average by R139.16, making Johannesburg the most expensive metro for groceries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The monthly data showing an increase in prices in Johannesburg means the cost of food is rising in 2025, as indicated by Stats SA\u2019s data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In comparison, Cape Town takes back the title as the cheapest city for groceries from Durban, although it still recorded an increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Durban\u2019s food basket recorded at R5,425.23, saw a significant increase of R157.64 (3%) from R5,267.58 in March 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city\u2019s annual increase was even higher, recorded at 3.2% or R168.23 from R5,257.00 in April 2024. However, this is still 2.4% or R134.23 less expensive than Johannesdurg. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Cape Town\u2019s food basket increased by R11.25 (0.2%) from R5,305.31 in March 2025 to R5,316.56 in April 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Year-on-year, the Cape Town household food basket cost increased by R129.80 (2.5%) from R5,186.76 in April 2024 to R5,316.56 in April 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the increases, Cape Town is R249.90 cheaper than Johannesburg and R103.74 cheaper than the national average.<\/p>\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the most expensive major city in South Africa to buy groceries in as of April 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":800396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[15363,7540,5999,1996,19982,853],"class_list":["post-822953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-cape-town-central-city-improvement-district","tag-durban","tag-groceries","tag-johannesburg","tag-pietermaritzburg-economic-justice-dignity-group-pmbejd","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822953","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\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822953"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":823010,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822953\/revisions\/823010"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/800396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}