JOHANNESBURG - While meat prices rose and pork prices rose in the double digits, food inflation has shown to have eased, slowing to 1.4% in June.
This decline has been attributed to plentiful grain harvest
According to economist Wandile Sihlobo, the rate at which food prices are changing in South Africa is slowing, with food price inflation at 1.4% from 1.6%
“We see a broad deceleration across a range of products that are in the food basket. And in fact, some products are actually in deflation, which means that if you look at the prices of those products this year and you compare them to last year, they are truly coming down.
“Those are grain-related food products, vegetables, as well as fruits. Of course, it depends on what vegetables you are looking at and what fruits you are looking at, he said.
He said the core factor behind that is that we have ample supplies in terms of grains.
“We just had now one of the excellent grain seasons on record, around 21.5million tons of grain. That includes maize, soybean, sunflower, and a whole range of other summer grains that we produce as a country. And that's what adding to that deflation or the general slowdown in price changes in those products," he explained.
However, economists warn that higher oil prices and a predicted El Nino drought could pose a huge risk.