South Africans Bemoan Decrease in Fuel Prices but Not in Food Prices

• The Competition Commission of South Africa released its latest Essential Food Pricing Monitoring Report
• The report found that the relaxation of loadshedding, the Rand picking up strength and decreasing fuel prices are not translating to food price decreases
• It found that prices for essential foods like brown bread and cooking oil have not decreased but have increased

Tebogo Mokwena, Briefly News's current affairs journalist, covered current affairs relating to the economy, finance, banks, and state-owned enterprises during his seven years at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News.

JOHANNESBURG—The Competition Commission's Essential Food Pricing Monitoring Report, recently released, shows that although petrol prices have decreased and the rand is gaining momentum, food is still expensive.

Food still expensive: report

The Commission released the report on 4 October 2024. It found that the strengthened rand and the fuel price decrease should result in lower food prices. However, the opposite effect has been observed.

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The report found that despite lower wheat prices, brown bread has increased. A steep decline in the production price of cooking oil did not reflect in the retail prices as cooking oil has risen above the levels it was on during the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war. Eggs remain expensive due to the effects of the avian flu outbreak.

South Africans complain

Netizens discussing the food prices on Facebook were dissatisfied.

Musiiwa Murogolo said:

"The GNU must intervene. Food prices must be revisited."

Sue Hyman said:

"Basic needs are no longer affordable to a large part of South Africa. It's madness. Yet, government officials and CEOs of these large retailers walk away with millions."

Rakesh Hiralall said:

"Retailers price-fix items and don't want to use money they get back from suppliers to lower the price of products."

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Sahika Enver said:

"It's all about profits. How do people eat?"

Angelique Joubert said:

"You can drive but not eat."

Repo rate decrease

In a related article, Briefly News reported that the South African Reserve Bank announced a lower repo rate.

The repo rate was cut by 25 basis points to 8%, but many South Africans felt that was not enough.

Source: Briefly News