Article
SA food and non-alcoholic beverage inflation accelerated marginally in March 2019
Published: 17/04/2019
While South Africa’s headline food and non-alcoholic beverage inflation accelerated to 3.1% in March 2019 from 2.9% in the previous month, the food category remained unchanged at 2.3% for the third consecutive months, as shown in Figure 1. This is on the back of lower meat prices, which continued to offset higher prices of grain-related products. However, this is a trend that is likely to change in the coming months as underlying data in the meat industry points to potential price increases in the near term. As a result, we still think South Africa’s food and non-alcoholic beverages price inflation could average about 5% y/y in 2019.
While South Africa’s headline food and non-alcoholic beverage inflation accelerated to 3.1% in March 2019 from 2.9% in the previous month, the food category remained unchanged at 2.3% for the third consecutive months, as shown in Figure 1. This is on the back of lower meat prices, which continued to offset higher prices of grain-related products. However, this is a trend that is likely to change in the coming months as underlying data in the meat industry points to potential price increases in the near term. As a result, we still think South Africa’s food and non-alcoholic beverages price inflation could average about 5% y/y in 2019.