{"id":826012,"date":"2025-05-29T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=826012"},"modified":"2025-05-28T17:11:57","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T15:11:57","slug":"the-city-with-the-highest-food-prices-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/826012\/the-city-with-the-highest-food-prices-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"The city with the highest food prices in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In May 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 18 of the 44 tracked food items became cheaper or saw no increases year-on-year, 26 experienced price hikes, and nine items saw double-digit inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, inflation was surprised by dropping to 2.8% in April 2025, a slight uptick from the 2.7% recorded in March. In its latest inflation report, Stats SA warned<\/a> that some food items recorded higher annual rates in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The increase was driven by higher inflation in key categories like food and non-alcoholic beverages. Food NAB inflation rose to 4.0%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was the highest annual rate since September 2024 (recorded at 4.6%), increasing by 1.3% from March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Stats SA, the rise in Food NAB was due to higher meat prices, particularly beef products like stewing beef, mince, and steak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meat prices increased by 2.3% on average between March and April, the highest monthly rise since January 2023 (2.5%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Coffee and tea drinkers also continue to feel the pain. Hot beverages rose to 15.2%, the highest print since September 2024 (15.8%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alcoholic beverages also added pressure, with prices rising on average by 1.3%. This took the annual rate from 4.1% in February to 4.7% in March. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most expensive city for groceries<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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As of the end of May 2025, the cost of a household food basket, comprising 44 essential items that reflect typical purchasing patterns, reached R5,466.59. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a 2.6% annual increase of R136.29 compared to May 2025. Month-on-month, the basket price also increased by R46.29, or 0.9%, compared to April 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although this annual increase is lower than the latest consumer price inflation rate of 2.8%, 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 differences. In May 2025, the household food basket cost R5,610.46 in Johannesburg, a 0.3% increase of R17.17 from the previous year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is R77.58 more than the recorded basket price of R5,559.46 in April. It also surpasses the national average by R143.87, 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, Durban takes back the title as the cheapest city for groceries from Cape Town, although it still recorded an increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Durban\u2019s food basket, recorded at R5,427.87, increased by R2.64 (0.1%) from R5,425.23 in April 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city\u2019s annual increase was higher, recorded at 1.6% or R87.08 from R5,340.79 in May 2024. However, this is still 3.3% or R182.59 less expensive than Johannesdurg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Cape Town\u2019s food basket has seen significant monthly and annual increases, far higher than in Johannesburg and Durban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cape Town\u2019s food basket increased by R112.62 (2.1%) from R5,316.56 in April 2025 to R5,429.18 in May 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Year-on-year, the Cape Town household food basket cost increased by a notable R299.18 (5.8%) from R5,129.99 in May 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the significant increases, Cape Town is still R181.28 cheaper than Johannesburg and R37.41 cheaper than the national average.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the most expensive major city in South Africa to buy groceries in as of May 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":826018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[2016,10839,19982,853,1809],"class_list":["post-826012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-city-of-johannesburg","tag-food-prices","tag-pietermaritzburg-economic-justice-dignity-group-pmbejd","tag-south-africa","tag-stats-sa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826012","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=826012"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":826020,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826012\/revisions\/826020"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}