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Mageu among new additions to CPI basket

Mageu, feta cheese, hot chocolate and filtered coffee will form part of the CPI basket from January next year, Statistics SA said

They would be among the list of goods and services used when calculating the Consumer Price Index next year.

Items in the CPI basket are representative of the main categories of goods and services typically bought by households. The changes indicated shifts in consumer choices.

Other products which would be included in the CPI basket from January next year were vodka, bricks and cement, energy-saving light bulbs, tablet computers, hair extensions and package holidays.

Items leaving the CPI basket were samp, savoury biscuits, dried fruits and nuts, frozen vegetables, dried lentils and peas, and Vienna sausages.

Presently there were 402 items in the CPI basket. The new basket would have 393.

Stats SA price and employment statistics executive manager Patrick Kelly said: "Another significant change will be a basket for each primary urban area, secondary urban area and rural area in each province."

At present, there was only one CPI basket for each province. Kelly said one of the reasons for the change in the provincial basket was that there were goods and services consumed by people in urban areas, but not in the rural areas of the same province.

"It must be noted that the baskets reflect the pattern of residence rather than the point at which purchases are made."

There would also be changes in the weights of the items in the basket. All indices would be re-based to 100.

Kelly said there would be changes to the Producer Price Inflation Index as of January 2013.

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