Price increases hitting pockets hard
THE upward trend of food prices means that millions of poor people in South Africa are bound to suffer more.
OH DEAR: South Africans are finding it hard to cope with food price hikes. PHOTO: YANDISA MONAKALIThe Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations recently said the Food Price Index increased by 6% between June and July.
The index, which measures the monthly change in the international prices of a basket of food commodities, averaged 213 points last month, up 12 points from June. That was still well below the peak of 238 points reached in February last year.
Economist Mike Schussler said the price hikes mean a bigger chunk of monthly salaries are spent on food.
"The Food Price Index affects employed and unemployed people. Due to the food price hikes in the past four years, people have fallen way below the poverty line," Schussler said.
Canny Geyer, of the international nongovernmental organisation Oxfam's Economic Justice Campaign in SA, said: "South Africa is considered a food secure nation, yet hunger is escalating and more people are increasingly dependent on family, friends and neighbours for food donations."
Schussler said in most cases people got salary increases that are far below the inflation rate.
"Pensioners who do not get any increase are hit badly by inflation. They are forced to buy less."
According to Statistics South Africa's Consumer Price Index (CPI) urban consumers paid 41.31% more for a 5kg pack of super maize meal and 63.88% more for a 5kg pack of special maize meal in January this year than the same time last year.
The CPI reflects monthly and yearly changes in the cost of a particular basket of goods for the average consumer.
Mariam Mayet, director of the African Centre for Biosafety in Johannesburg, said: "In 2008 a 5kg maize meal packet cost R17.58 and it now costs R21.05. In 2012 figures show that rural consumers paid R29.70 for a 5kg maize meal (pack) while urban shoppers paid R32.26."
Gareth Jones, a researcher at the African Centre for Biosafety, said in January this year, consumers in rural areas paid R2.37 more for the same food basket than consumers in urban areas.
Jones credits the difference to the cost of transporting goods.
Craig Binetti, President of Nutrition and Health at DuPont, said indicators show that SA will continue to face rising food inflation in the years ahead, which will continue to make food less affordable for consumers.
"People are often already eating the cheapest food and have little disposable income, which also leaves them with few options to cut back further." - bambalelep@sowetan.co.za
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Lazjizl
We need a radical method/plan to curb this rise in food prices!!!Report Abuse
Voetzek
I didnt care less because im good in stealing food, but at some shops i get my ass kickedReport Abuse
tpaz
@Lazjil, how?eTolls will increase transport costs, passed on to the consumer.
I think profit margin on basic food should be set. How do you explain Pick n Pay selling 1Liter milk for R8 when they are buying it for R3 from the farmer?
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MamaNeo
Modimo wa kgotso!! :(Report Abuse
sabc
It would be easier for the poor to steal and loot than pay for these basic foods at PNP,Shoprite,sPAR.many of these shops are near the townships.
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Mellow
sabcIt would be easier for the poor to steal and loot than pay for these basic foods at PNP,Shoprite,sPAR.
many of these shops are near the townships
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The poorest of them all dont live in townships they live in RURAL AREAS RURAL VERY RURAL and they have to spend +-R100 on transport only to go buy basic food
And the suffering shall continue I foresee crime rate doubling
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mphoyyyy!!!
WHO IS THE MINISTER OF GROCERY???m thinking of relocating to cuba,life in south africica is expensive.they increase my pay once in 12 months,n increase petrol n food 12 times in 12 months.Report Abuse
TheTrueWord
And what is the government doing to ameliolate such eminent human catastrophe? Nothing! until there's a crisis no one in government thinks of circumventing the problem before it gets out of hand.Ba busy ngale Mangaung yabo eyisicefe.
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sgubhusenkwishi
The only way forward here is, the govt must subsidise the productive farmers with immediate effect and regulate the stable food prices, so that the poor who are the most vulnerable sector of our population can afford the stable food at their levels wherever they are in the community, as that govt subsidy would be used as a cushion and insurence to cover for the poor in such dire need and desperate times.I think if I remember very well IFP has suggested this solution before and it remains relevant to this situation now. I am not its spoke person but I am just recalling this because it is a right thing to do at this time, the credit to them would be a bonus , for being critical thinkers.
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trialsoftware
if the govt could drop vat on some food items like maize then the poor could be protected from this but I won't hold my breathReport Abuse
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