{"id":850533,"date":"2026-02-11T09:14:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T07:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=850533"},"modified":"2026-02-11T09:14:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T07:14:37","slug":"its-a-bad-time-to-braai-in-south-africa-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/850533\/its-a-bad-time-to-braai-in-south-africa-2\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s a bad time to braai in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The latest Braai Index for January 2026 shows both a month-on-month and year-on-year increase in the cost of hosting a braai, with economists warning that meat prices are set to keep climbing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The index shows that the South African braai basket has increased 2.6% month-on-month, driven by increases for both the meat (beef and chicken) and veggie components.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Year-on-year, basket inflation is more muted, but still up 1.1%, primarily driven by a massive 19% increase in beef prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Braai Index is compiled monthly by BusinessTech using pricing data from the Pietermaritzburg Equity Justice and Dignity (PMBEJD) group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PMBEJD\u2019s data reflects real \u201con the ground\u201d pricing across South Africa\u2019s major provinces and includes the items found in the shopping baskets of the majority of South African households.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The index, in turn, tracks the prices of a selection of essential items typically used for a South African braai, offering a more focused view of inflation at the grill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The index includes meat (beef, wors, chicken portions), vegetables (spinach, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, green pepper) and others (samp, maize, curry powder, salt).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between December and January, prices generally rose, with a sharp increase in the price of spinach, onions, potatoes and carrots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was partially offset by decreases in the prices of green peppers and samp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Year-on-year, the basket’s pricing saw beef prices shoot up 19.3%, with spinach and chicken also climbing around 8%-9%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This follows a steep 21% y\/y increase in beef prices the month before, continuing the rising trend seen since the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in April and May 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Month-on-month [+2.6%<\/mark>]<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Year-on-Year [+1.1%<\/mark>]<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Meat price madness<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Braai Index broadly aligns with wider annual inflation data for food & non-alcoholic beverages. In December 2025, Food NAB remained stable at a rate of 4.4% y\/y.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Headline inflation is expected to remain fairly stable this year, but economists have flagged meat as a major risk factor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December, meat inflation continued its upward trajectory in Stats SA’s basket, rising to 12.6% from 12.2% in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economists at Nedbank warned that the ongoing outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in South Africa would keep pushing up meat prices for the months to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They warned that, on top of the past six months or so of large increases, consumers can expect double-digit meat price inflation to last until roughly April 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of this anomaly, or ‘black swan event’ in the red meat industry, the weighting of the index tilts to higher basket inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Braai Index is heavily influenced by two proteins: beef and chicken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other proteins, such as pork and lamb, are not tracked in the PMBEJD basket and thus do not feature on the index.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Producers of these proteins have criticised the data presented in the index, noting that braai affordability could differ greatly if consumers choose alternative proteins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One such producer, Eskort, has directly appealed to have pork products included in the index, noting that pork offers a cheaper alternative to beef.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data from the IDC<\/strong><\/a>, citing food producers, notes that poultry is by far the most widely consumed protein in South Africa, followed by beef.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This explains the prominence of these proteins in the PMBEJD\u2019s basket tracking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the data, 49% of animal protein consumed per person in South Africa is poultry, 26% is beef, 13% is eggs, 7% is pork, and 5% is mutton and goat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group noted that consumption of poultry is increasing while red meat consumption is decreasing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, the Braai Index remains a broad indicator of food inflation, tracking the most widely consumed food products, as tracked by the PMBEJD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Costs and affordability will vary depending on what you actually eat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The latest Braai Index for January 2026 shows both a month-on-month and year-on-year increase in the cost of hosting a braai, with economists warning that meat prices are set to keep climbing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":841294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[21654,24719,14664],"class_list":["post-850533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-braai-index","tag-meat-prices","tag-pmbejd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850533","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=850533"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":850545,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850533\/revisions\/850545"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/841294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=850533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=850533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=850533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}