THE AVERAGE cost of the household food basket in February at R4 355.70 has decreased by R45.33 (-1 percent), from R4 401.02 in January, 2022 according to the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity Group (PMBEJD).
The group’s programme co-ordinator, Mervyn Abrahams, said food prices dropped marginally in all areas tracked.
“Most foods in the basket came down in February, 2022 and across most staples, meats, and vegetables with the exception of oils and fats: cooking oil, margarine and cremora,” Abrahams said.
The February, 2022 Household Affordability Index tracks food price data from 44 supermarkets and 30 butcheries in Johannesburg (Soweto, Alexandra, Tembisa and Hillbrow); Durban (KwaMashu, Umlazi, Isipingo, Durban CBD and Mtubatuba); Cape Town (Khayelitsha, Gugulethu, Philippi, Langa, Delft and Dunoon); Pietermaritzburg and Springbok (in the Northern Cape).
The average cost of the household food basket increased by R354.52 (8.9 percent) from R4 001.17 in February, 2021 to R4 355.70 in February, 2022.
Statistics South Africa’s latest Consumer Price Index for January, 2022 showed that headline inflation was 5.7 percent, and for the lowest expenditure quintiles 1-3, it was 6.7 percent, 6.1 percent and 5.6 percent, respectively. CPI food inflation was 6.2 percent.
The PMBEJD said the national minimum wage (NMW) for a general worker in February, 2022 was R3 470.40, while transport to work and back would cost a worker an average of R1 280 (36.9 percent of the NMW), and electricity an average of R731.50 (21.1 percent of the NMW).
Abrahams said together, transport and electricity – both non-negotiable expenses – took up 58 percent (R2 011.50) of the NMW, leaving R1 458.90 to secure all other household expenses.
“Workers’ families will underspend on food by a minimum of 51.8 percent, this month, based on the PMBEJDs basic nutritional food basket which stands at R3 029.23 for a family of four. Productivity in the workplace and learning quality in classrooms, and whether we have to visit a healthcare centre or not, are all dependent on the food we eat.”
Regarding women and children, the group said that in February, the average cost to feed a child a basic nutritious diet was R771.95. Year-on-year, the cost to feed a child a basic nutritious diet had increased by R61.20 or 8.6 percent.
In February, the group said the child support grant of R460 was 26 percent below the food poverty line of R624, and 40 percent below the average cost to feed a child a basic nutritious diet of R771.95.
Abrahams said in its annual adjustments, the South African government chose to increase the child support grant by R20 from April, 2022.
“This is an increase of 4.3 percent. The R20 increase will move the child support grant of R480 from 26 percent below the food poverty line of R624, to 23 percent below the food poverty line,” Abrahams said.
Meanwhile, Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz) chief economist Wandile Sihlobo said that in the past week, the recent report that South Africa’s petrol (95 ULP inland) and diesel (0.05 percent wholesale inland) prices would increase by R1.46 cents per litre (c/l) and R1.44 (c/l), respectively meant that the retail price of petrol would rise to a record R21.60 per litre from the current level of R20.14 per litre.
“Simultaneously, the wholesale diesel price will increase to R19.48 per litre from R18.04 in February, 2022. The underpinning driver of the fuel price increase is the rising Brent crude oil price on the back of the current geopolitics and supply constraints that existed before the intensification of the Russia/Ukraine conflict, among other factors,” Sihlobo said.
Agbiz said this fuel price uptick would increase farmers’ input costs, while it was fortunately, a quiet period in the primary agricultural sector, specifically the summer crop-producing areas where the crops are at reasonably early stages of growth.
However, Sihlobo said the same could not be said for agribusinesses in the logistics business, as they would experience cost increases.
“This is a busy period of wheat imports and maize exports. At the same time, there are horticulture exports under way. This is in addition to general movements of agricultural products in various provinces for domestic consumption. In this case, it is worth noting that about 81 percent of maize, 76 percent of wheat and 69 percent of soybeans in South Africa were transported by road. On average, 75 percent of national grains and oilseeds are transported by road and a substantial share of other agricultural products,” Sihlobo said.
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