Monthly Food Affordability Tracker Issue 2- South Africa

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Official food inflation data in South Africa has traditionally been released with a 3-week lag, based on food price data in the preceding month.

The Level 5 COVID-19 lockdown in April 2020 has however increased this lag period and as a result official Statistics South Africa food price inflation data for May 2020 will only be available during July 2020. 

Official food inflation data in South Africa has traditionally been released with a 3-week lag, based on food price data in the preceding month. The Level 5 COVID-19 lockdown in April 2020 has however increased this lag period and as a result official Statistics South Africa food price inflation data for May 2020 will only be available during July 2020. To provide interim food price trends, selected products have been monitored from websites of selected prominent retail outlets with an online offering. The changes observed between April and May 2020 are presented in Figure 1 below. The 15 food items presented in Figure 1 represent a selection of the dominant food items purchased by low(er) income households in South Africa, with expenditure on these items typically representing approximately 70% of total food expenditure for the least affluent half of South African households (according to Stats SA Living Conditions Survey 2014/2015).

The results show that prices for chicken, maize meal, sugar, pilchards, peanut butter and sunflower oil have decreased between April and May. This is good news for low(er) income consumers, who typically spend approximately 25% of their total food expenditure on chicken and maize meal combined, while typically spending approximately a third of total food expenditure on these six items combined (Stats SA Living Conditions Survey 2014/2015). 

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