Household food basket cheaper in March, but low-income families still can\u2019t afford it<\/a><\/p>\nSelected foods<\/p>\n
The CoL report also examined the gap between what producers receive and what consumers pay for selected foods, including canned pilchards, eggs, individually quick-frozen (IQF) chicken, sunflower oil and maize meal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this report, the \u201cspread\u201d is the percentage difference between the producer price and the retail price. The Commission analyses spreads to see how price changes move through the value chain and where the gap is widening or narrowing,\u201d the Commission said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA widening spread can suggest opportunistic \u201crocket and feather\u201d pricing, where processors or retailers raise prices quickly when costs rise but reduce them slowly when costs fall.\u201d<\/p>\n
Key food items include:<\/p>\n
Eggs: In mid-2025, producer prices fell, but retail prices fell slowly. This suggests that price decreases were not passed on to consumers right away.<\/p>\n
IQF chicken: Producer prices were broadly stable at about R45, but retail prices increased from about R96.38 to R101.56 per 1.5kg between June and December 2025.<\/p>\n
Maize meal: The farm value of white maize fell from R22.16 in May 2025 to R14.49 per 2.5kg in December 2025. Producer prices for maize meal did not fall by the same extent, and retail prices remained high. The producer-to-retail spread was 37% in November 2025.<\/p>\n
Sunflower oil: Retail prices were often slow to reflect changes in underlying costs. Retail prices tend to react to increases in costs. However, they do not appear to fall when costs decrease. This price stickiness is a concern.<\/p>\n
Healthcare<\/p>\n
The report showed that healthcare also had an impact on South Africans.<\/p>\n
Primary healthcare: General practitioner (GP) consultation costs have risen faster than overall inflation and remain high in 2026. GP tariff increases in 2026 are expected to be broadly in line with medical inflation of about 4.2%.<\/p>\n
Education<\/p>\n
According to the report, parents with school-going children also face a heavy burden.<\/p>\n
Since 2020, the cost of primary education has risen by 37%, while secondary education has jumped by 42%, both above headline inflation.<\/p>\n
The Commission linked these hikes to insufficient government funding, which forces schools to cover operational shortfalls through increased fees.<\/p>\n
Fuel price<\/p>\n
The report also touched on the fuel price, revealing that, between April 2025 and January this year, petrol prices stabilised after sharp swings in earlier years.<\/p>\n
Prices fell in 2025 and were broadly steady in January. Taxi fares moved in line with petrol, and the gap between taxi fares and overall inflation narrowed.<\/p>\n
The Commission, however, stated that renewed instability in the Middle East has pushed oil prices higher, resulting in significant fuel price increases for April.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is already putting upward pressure on fuel and transport costs from April. Higher fuel costs can also feed through to the prices of other goods, including food.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cost of living<\/p>\n
\u201cAddressing the cost of living requires greater scrutiny of administered price-setting mechanisms, enhanced transparency and accountability in tariff determinations and targeted protection for vulnerable households\u201d said Commissioner Doris Tshepe.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout deliberate attention to how essential service prices are formed and transmitted through the economy, cost pressures are likely to remain entrenched, limiting gains in household welfare and slowing broader economic recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Deep dive\u2019<\/p>\n
The Commission said that each edition of the CoL report includes a \u201cdeep dive\u201d into one key cost driver.<\/p>\n
In the latest edition, the focus was on electricity tariffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cElectricity is a direct household expense and a major cost for businesses. When tariffs rise, they put pressure on household budgets and can push up prices across the economy, including food and transport,\u201d the Commission said.<\/p>\n
NOW READ: Tshwane buses resume full operations after fuel crisis leaves commuters stranded<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prices of essential utilities like electricity and water have skyrocketed far beyond the national inflation rate over the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[28,248436,12586,16358,939,14664,41550,147,530],"class_list":["post-560519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-competition-commission-compcomsa","tag-cost-of-living","tag-electricity","tag-finance","tag-food-prices","tag-fuel","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}