Cape Town - Shoprite on Monday warned that it would act “strongly in the interest of consumers and not tolerate food price increases which were not based on fundamentals”.
The group said in a statement that while there was no doubt that the drought and the weak rand had pushed up food inflation, there were signs that upward pressure on food prices could be starting to ease.
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The statement added that once relief from the current drought occurred, basic commodity prices would normalise and, combined with the rand’s recent recovery against the US dollar to levels last seen in August last year, the price of imported products would also start easing.
Shoprite chief executive Whitey Basson said some food prices had already stabilised. Noting that it might take some time for other prices to come down, he warned against those attempting to “push through unnecessary price increases fuelled by the frenzy emanating from recent reports about spiralling costs”.
ANA