Consumer inflation has dropped to below 5%, according to new data released from Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) on Wednesday.
StatsSA said that after holding steady for 10 months in the 5-6% range, annual consumer price inflation slowed to 4.6% in July from 5.1% in June.
“The July inflation print is the lowest in three years since July 2021, when the rate was also 4.6%,” the body explained.
“Lower annual rates were recorded for several product groups, most notably food and non-alcoholic beverages (NAB), transport, and housing and utilities”.
StatsSA said that the monthly increase in the consumer price index (CPI) was 0.4%, higher than the 0.1% rise recorded between May and June.
Food inflation
South African consumers can breathe a small sigh of relief as the annual rate for food and NAB was 4.5% in July, down from 4.6% in June.
“Food and NAB registered a slowing inflation trend since its most recent high of 9.0% in November 2023 and is currently at its lowest since September 2020 (3.8%),” StatsSA noted.
The body did caution consumers that while overall food inflation has slowed, bread and cereals are showing upward momentum.
“The category recorded an annual increase of 5.6% in July, up from June’s 5.2%. Products with the largest annual increases in July include rice (up 21.3%), pizza or pies (up 11.6%) and samp (up 6.9%). Maize meal prices rose on average by 5.1%.”
Bread flour, cake flour, pasta and macaroni are cheaper than a year ago, according to the data.
The price index for meat recorded a monthly decline of 0.4% and an annual rise of 1.0%, StatsSA said.
Drinks
Warm beverages continued to witness high inflation rates, the data observed.
“The price index for the category increased sharply by 17.6% in the 12 months to July, up from 16.5% recorded in June. Large annual price increases were recorded for instant coffee (up 21.8%), drinking chocolate (up 17.7%), black tea (up 15.7%), ground coffee and coffee beans (up 14.6%) and rooibos tea (up 11.1%).
“Cappuccino sachets recorded the lowest price increase in this category, rising by 7.6% over the same period,” StatsSA said.
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