Cape Town – Food price monitoring by the Competition Commission for the first quarter of the year shows that many food commodities have experienced price inflation in part due to the weakening of the rand, and in some cases due to export restrictions being introduced in other markets.
Similarly, the initial panic buying of essential food items may have contributed to upward-pricing pressure in fresh produce markets, which was followed by an easing in prices.
In releasing its report on Monday night, the commission said it analysed pricing across the various fresh produce markets in order to test whether there could be any merit for concern.
It analysed 90 days of daily sales for 18 fresh produce markets tracked by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, for 10 key products: the top five vegetables and top five fruits.
It found a high degree of pricing variation across fresh produce markets for the same product.
“For example, for the 17 markets with data for onions, the difference between the average price of the most expensive market and least expensive market is as much as 40%.
’’Such high variation on a staple product that is grown from the Western Cape to Limpopo is concerning and potentially indicative of malfunctioning markets in certain areas.
“Of particular concern is that certain of the poorer rural regions in South Africa are the subject of higher prices for this staple,” the commission found.
It has identified that exclusive leases in shopping centres are anti-competitive and likely to contribute to market outcomes.
“That exclusivity would appear to provide the national chains with less competitive pressure to lower prices.
“This behaviour is particularly concerning in a disaster context,” it said.
IOL