Food inflation analysis for Jan 2025

Last updated Feb 2025 by Walter (source: StatSSA)

Food key statistics

What is happening to Food prices? 📈

1,5% over 12 months
vs historical average of 6,5%
Running below historical average 🐌

Speeding Up or Slowing Down?

Decelerating 🐌
Current: 1,5% vs Previous: 1,7%

Year-on-year Food inflation rate vs CPI headline

What happened to Food prices over the last twelve months?

Food prices have increased by 1,5% over the last 12 months. This compares to overall consumer inflation (as measured by CPI) of 3,2%.

How does Food price inflation compare to headline CPI and other major sectors?

Basket 12m change
1 Electricity, gas and other fuels 11,8%
2 Non-alcoholic beverages 9,0%
3 Accommodation services 8,2%
4 Insurance 8,0%
5 Primary and secondary education 6,6%
6 Tertiary education 5,9%
7 Water supply and miscellaneous services 5,5%
8 Health services 5,0%
9 Tobacco 4,8%
10 Restaurants 4,0%
11 Alcoholic beverages 3,9%
12 Goods and services for routine household maintenance 3,5%
13 Medicines and health products 3,4%
14 Newspapers, books and stationery 3,3%
15 CPI Headline 3,2%
16 Recreational and cultural services 2,5%
17 Purchase of vehicles 2,4%
18 Owners equivalent rent 2,4%
19 Footwear 1,8%
20 Clothing 1,5%
21 Food 1,5%
22 Maintenance and repair 1,3%
23 Information and communication services 0,8%
24 Passenger transport services 0,7%
25 Furniture, furnishings and loose carpets -0,9%
26 Recreational goods -2,2%
27 Household textiles, appliances, tableware and equipment -2,7%
28 Package holidays -2,9%
29 Operation of personal transport equipment -3,1%
30 Information and communication equipment -15,5%

Food ranks 21 out of 30 major sectors, with a 1,5% price increase over the past 12 months. This is below the overall consumer price inflation rate of 3,2%, indicating that Food prices are rising slower than most other consumer goods and services.

Is Food price inflation accelerating or slowing down?

What was the inflation rate in Food in previous month?

Previous, year-on-year inflation in Food came in at 1,7% (Invalid Date). The most recent year-on-year inflation rate for Invalid Date was 1,5%. That means, we have seen a cost deceleration compared to the previous 12 months.

How has the inflation rate in Food changed over the last two years?

If we look back over a longer period, we see that Food year-on-year inflation has been averaging 7,0% over the past 2 years. The most recent year-on-year inflation rate for Invalid Date was 1,5%. That means, Food most recent year-on-year price inflation of 1,5% is below the average inflation rate of 6,5% over the past 2 years. The trend is down.

How does 1,5% in Food inflation compare historically? Has Food inflation been higher or lower historically?

The most recent year-on-year inflation rate in Invalid Date was 1,5%.
The lowest year-on-year inflation rate was 0,0% in Invalid Date.
The highest year-on-year inflation rate was 16,3% in Invalid Date.
The historical year-on-year average inflation rate for Food is 6,5%.

How much did Food cost 1 year, 2 years, 5 years and 10 years ago?

Period Rand amount Total Change
Current 1 000 -
1 year ago 985 1,5%
2 years ago 920 8,7%
5 years ago 720 38,9%
10 years ago 544 83,9%

Costs relating to Food which cost R1,000 today would have cost you R985 one year ago, R920 two years ago, and R720 five years ago. This shows how the purchasing power of your money has declined over time due to inflation in Food prices.