While shoppers welcomed unchanged prices for basics such as bread, eggs and cooking oil in Buffalo City in December, the R6 spike in chicken prices took a bite out of their holiday food basket.
According to the Household Affordability Index, compiled by the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity Group, food price data from across SA showed the cost of the average household food basket for December was R5,383.38 — R22.34 more for the same basket of items compared with November.
The national year-on-year difference showed a R145.18 increase from R5,238.20 in December 2023.
The Dispatch visited three leading retail chain stores in East London and compared the average price of eight core food items in September with August’s prices:
- 1kg of potatoes decreased by R1.67 to R20.99;
- 750ml of sunflower oil remained the same at R35.66;
- 12 large eggs remained the same at R49.31;
- A chicken tray increased by R6 to R62.66;
- A loaf of brown bread remained the same at R11.32;
- 1l cow’s milk remained the same at R17.99;
- 1kg of butternut increased by R1; and
- 1kg of maize meal increased by 33c.
We also compared the prices year-on-year with the metro’s December 2023 food basket.
The most notable price differences compared with 2023 were:
- 1kg of potatoes decreased by R4.67 from R25.66;
- 750ml of sunflower oil increased by R2.67 from R32.99;
- 12 large eggs increased by R3.33 from R45.98;
- A chicken tray increased by R2 from R60.66;
- A loaf of brown bread increased by 16c from R11.16
- 1l milk remained the same at R17.99;
- 1kg of butternut decreased by R4 from R21.99; and
- 1kg of maize meal increased by R2.50 from R15.82.
The economic justice group also stated that for SA workers on the national minimum wage (NMW), electricity and transport took up 61.1% of their salary.
“The wage workers earn is not just to sustain themselves alone ... for black South African workers, one wage typically must support four people.
“Dispersed in a worker’s family of four, the NMW, is R1,048,04 per person — this is below the upper-bound poverty line of R1,634 per person per month.”
“Food is bought after transport and electricity have been paid for or [the money] set aside, and so in December 2024, PMBEJD calculates that workers’ families will underspend on food by a minimum of 57.1%.
“In this scenario, there is no possibility of a worker being able to afford enough nutritious food for [his or] her family.”
For December, the monthly child support grant of R530 was 33% below the food poverty line of R796, and 45% below the average cost to feed a child a basic nutritious diet, which was R968.56 — an increase of R2.11 when compared with November.
“As children grow older, their nutritional requirements increase. It means that the cost of feeding a child increases in price as a child grows older and is also different for teenage girls and boys.
“The child support grant is a fixed amount: it does not account for age,” it concluded.
With December data yet to be released, Stats SA’s latest headline inflation was 2.9% in November, an increase from 2.8% in October 2024.
The main contributors to the increase were “housing and utilities, miscellaneous goods and services, food and nonalcoholic beverages and alcoholic beverages and tobacco”.
The owner of House 87 in Quigney, Thando Thomas, said December had seen an increase in holidaymakers and SA tourists to the jazz lounge and eatery — which above serving traditional Xhosa meals, won the Link FM Battle of the Burgers last year.
“In general, meat is the worst in terms of increased costs, especially red meat. Other items also increase but meat is the worst by far,” Thomas said.
“The other issue was the availability of food, soft and alcoholic drinks as we competed with the general public increasing its consumption due to festivities and traditional ceremonies [over December].”
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