{"id":856287,"date":"2026-04-08T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=856287"},"modified":"2026-04-08T16:57:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T14:57:51","slug":"most-expensive-place-in-south-africa-to-buy-groceries-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/856287\/most-expensive-place-in-south-africa-to-buy-groceries-right-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Most expensive place in South Africa to buy groceries right now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In March 2026, Springbok in the Northern Cape is the most expensive place among South Africa\u2019s major towns and cities for groceries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this is closely followed by Johannesburg, Mtubatuba, and Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, which have overtaken Cape Town in the Western Cape as the second- and third-most-expensive places. <\/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 six towns and cities across South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data is based on \u201con-the-ground\u201d pricing for products across a variety of retailers in major cities, which serve as proxies for the provinces in question.<\/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, the other 26 experienced price hikes, with five items seeing double-digit inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa\u2019s consumer inflation has dipped to 3.5% in January 2026, down from the 3.6% recorded in December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the latest data from Stats SA, the CPI declined to 3% in February, driven by lower housing and utilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe delayed implementation of medical aid increases in February had a notable impact on the headline rate. If the outstanding medical scheme contributions are implemented later in the year, these changes will most likely affect the headline rates.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Food inflation\u2014one of the biggest drivers of inflation\u2014remained above the headline figure at 3.7%3.7%, while insurance and financial services recorded 4.7%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beef prices have again risen by double digits, marking 16.5% y\/y, following significant increases of 20.5% y\/y and 19.3% y\/y in February and January, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier in the year, economists warned that beef prices were likely to continue rising through April 2026 as the country\u2019s Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak runs its course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest Braai Index<\/a> for March 2026 shows that year-on-year inflation for the braai basket is continuing to rise, despite month-on-month prices easing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the true battle lies ahead, with a massive R7 per litre hike to diesel prices in April threatening to send food inflation rocketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The March index shows that the South African braai basket has increased 1.1% year-on-year, driven by increases for both the meat (beef and chicken) and veggie components.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most expensive place for groceries<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As of March 2026, the average cost of a household food basket in South Africa, comprising 44 essential items that reflect typical purchasing patterns, reached R5,328.53. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There has been no annual increase compared to March 2025. Month-on-month, however, the basket price decreased by R55.28 compared to February 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, a breakdown of costs in each city shows that the change in food prices is greater in some areas than others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March 2026, the household food basket cost R5,690.83 in Springbok, a 0.4% increase of R24.92 from the previous year. However, this is also R28.37 less than the basket price of R5,719.20 in February.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Springbok\u2019s basket price surpassed the national average by R362.30, making it the most expensive place for groceries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The household food basket cost R5,585.67 in Johannesburg, a notable 1.9% increase of R103.78 from the previous year, making it the second most expensive city.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maritzburg came in as the cheapest place to buy food, with its basket costing R5,002.77 in March 2026, due to a significant month-on-month decline of R204.74.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cape Town also overtook Durban to be the second cheapest of the cities for groceries, recording further decreases compared to last month and the year before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cape Town\u2019s food basket, recorded at R5,156.88, decreased by R148.43 (2.8%) from R5,305.31 in March 2025. The city also saw a month-on-month decrease of 1.5%, or R75.94, from R5,232.82 in February. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Durban’s household food basket of R5,267.26 decreased by an unnoticeable R0.33 (-0,0%) from R5,267.58 in March 2025 to R5,267.26 in March 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Basket comparison March 2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the most expensive place in South Africa to buy food in as of the end of March 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":856297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[9741,25155,22730,1809],"class_list":["post-856287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-food","tag-pietermaritzburg-economic-justice-and-dignity-pmbejd-group","tag-springbok","tag-stats-sa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856287","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=856287"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":856319,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856287\/revisions\/856319"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}