Food prices likely to spike despite improving power supply, fuel costs

THE Competition Commission has offered a glimmer of hope with its latest Essential Food Price Monitoring (EFPM) report, saying that although lower power inflation indicates some respite in consumer costs, the relentless rise in food prices posed a significant threat to local security.

- BANELE GINNINQZA

This has raised questions about the economic stability of many South Africans.

The commission's report released on Thursday highlighted various cost pressures that still are plaguing producers and consumers alike.

Ongoing loadshedding, persistently high transportation costs, and the lingering effects of drought continue are all poised to compound the challenges facing South Africa's food chain.

“If producers attempt to cushion consumers against these harsh realities, the fluid grocery market remains marked by significant consumer behaviour. Our analysis shows that canned pilchards producers have absorbed some of the cost increases that they have experienced. This is likely to have benefited consumers as they increase their consumption of pilchards over other protein sources,” they said.

The current harvest season is still intimated by constraints from the previous year, predicting that stocks will conclude at one million tonnes lower than last season.