Food inflation in South Africa in September was again higher than expected

The Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) has reported that food inflation in South Africa last month was higher than expected, at 6.6% year-on-year. Food inflation contributed 1.1 percentage points to the consumer price index headline inflation figure of 5% for the month. On the other hand, in month-on-month terms, September’s food inflation rate showed zero increase over the figure for August (which had also been higher than expected). “Numerous driving factors highlighted in our previous inflation briefs remain relevant, such as high global commodity prices, high red meat prices on the back of lower slaughter numbers, [rand] exchange rate weakening and rising input costs,” noted BFAP. The only food category that saw a year-on-year decrease in prices was fruit, which recorded a decline of 2.1%. As in August, the food categories which recorded the highest year-on-year inflation in September were oils and fats (22.4%) and meat (10.3%). For other categories, the rates were ...