{"id":878474,"date":"2026-10-06T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=878474"},"modified":"2026-10-06T11:44:35","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T09:44:35","slug":"worst-news-in-over-12-months-for-braai-lovers-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/878474\/worst-news-in-over-12-months-for-braai-lovers-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Worst news in over 12 months for braai lovers in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Annual pricing for hosting a braai in South Africa has hit its worst inflation levels in over a year, with braai lovers paying over 5% more than they were in 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest Braai Index for September 2026 showed year-on-year inflation at 5.2%, continuing the upward trend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is higher than the 3.1% recorded in August and the highest level since 6.7% in August 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The index, which is based on September pricing tracked by the PMBEJD group from stores across South Africa, also leads official headline inflation data from Stats SA, giving a preview into pricing trends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stats SA’s inflation data for August showed food and non-alcoholic beverage prices rising by only 0.7% y\/y\u2014the lowest levels in 10 years\u2014versus the Braai Index’s 3.1% rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This points to the second-round effects of higher inflation filtering through to specific food categories, balanced by disinflation in other segments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notably, braai basket inflation is tracking higher than headline inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For September, meat prices (beef and wors) were generally lower than last year, with chicken prices being the outlier, up 4.9%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the real culprit behind braai time being more expensive is on the side\u2014potatoes, onions, carrots, and tomatoes all show double-digit increases from 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more positive news is that after four months of month-on-month price inflation, following the Iran War in March, pricing is starting to ease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After basket prices fell 2.6% month-on-month in August, they declined another 0.4% in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Braai Index is compiled monthly by BusinessTech using pricing data from the PMBEJD. Its methodology originated from Bloomberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PMBEJD\u2019s data reflects actual prices across South Africa\u2019s major provinces and includes items typically found in the shopping baskets of most South African households.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The basket consists of meat (beef, wors, chicken portions), vegetables (spinach, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, green peppers), and other items (samp, maize, curry powder, salt). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s important to note that the index is based on data from PMBEJD, which excludes other protein sources like pork and lamb; therefore, these alternatives are not included in the analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Braai Index September 2026 Month-on-Month [-0.4%<\/mark>]<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Braai Index September 2026 Year-on-Year [+5.2%<\/mark>]<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Warnings sound<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to Agbiz Chief Economist Wandile Sihlobo, South Africa’s excellent 2025\/26 crop season is likely to help keep food price inflation moderate for the rest of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, an expected El Ni\u00f1o drought may put pricing under pressure in various product categories going into and throughout 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Base effects of the low inflation from this year will also have a hand in driving up inflation next year, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The key products keeping consumer food price inflation at these lower levels are mainly grain-related, fruits and vegetables, which are all currently in deflation,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regarding meat prices\u2014a core component of a braai\u2014Sihlobo noted that meat price inflation has also continued to moderate, suggesting slaughtering activity remains steady.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“However, fears of foot-and-mouth disease have added upside pressure on red meat prices over the past few months,” he noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The economist said that the pace of cattle slaughter has declined, “though not notably”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Another factor to keep in mind is that during foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks, the country is typically temporarily closed to some export markets, increasing domestic supplies even if slaughter has declined somewhat,” he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Base effects on meat prices, along with continued cattle slaughter, have helped ease price inflation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sihlobo said that the real concern is that the continued US-Iran War will drive prices higher by keeping energy costs elevated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that fuel accounts for a substantial share of food distribution costs, and that over 80% of staple food products are transported by road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa will see record petrol and diesel prices from Wednesday (7 October), with petrol shooting up to over R30\/litre for the first time in history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wholesale price of diesel is over R33 per litre\u2014hitting upwards of R35\/litre at the pumps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While El Ni\u00f1o poses a risk to food prices in the year ahead, the second-round impact of the energy crisis is coming to bear<\/span> in the more immediate term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Annual pricing for hosting a braai in South Africa has hit its worst inflation levels in over a year, even as headline food inflation flattens out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":826003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"failed","_sma_x_autopost_error":"Instagram publishing failed: Instagram returned HTTP 400: Media ID is not available","_sma_x_post_id":"2107410800507760979","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2228164134670652","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[21654,19920],"class_list":["post-878474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-braai-index","tag-food-inflation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878474","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=878474"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":878494,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878474\/revisions\/878494"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}