Trolleys of price pain for shoppers

Could you part with your favourite brand of tea, or downgrade your staple bottle of wine? As food prices soar, South African shoppers are having to cut back on their little luxuries.

But not Claudene Pillay, 30, who refuses to give up her Five Roses tea.

The financial manager, who lives in Greenstone Hill in Ekurhuleni, spends an average of R4,000 a month on groceries.

Pillay and her fiancé are also saving for their upcoming wedding - and keeping trim for the big day is proving costly.

She spends about R250 a week topping up on low-GI bread, fruit, milk and vegetables.

She said the biggest price increases have been for milk, fruit and vegetables.

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"Potatoes are R150 for 10kg - a few years ago it was R30 for 10kg. Fruit has increased drastically. Apples and naartjies are almost R10 more a bag and other fruits have seen even bigger price increases. Five Roses tea used to be R25 and is now R36," she said - but she can't live without it.

But Pillay said it was her upcoming wedding and not price hikes that had changed her shopping habits.

"To be honest, we haven't given up anything because I am trying to lose weight before the wedding - we have completely changed our eating habits even though it is extremely costly."

Cape Town mother of two Lorraine Kearney is becoming a savvy shopper.

In her household, which includes two vegetarians, her monthly grocery bill is about R5,500 - and to ensure it doesn't increase, Kearney has cut out treats such as chips, chocolate, juice and biscuits.

"But I can't live without a bottle of wine each week. I have dropped my price, though. I used to buy in the R100 to R120 range, now I buy in the R50 to R60 range. I need a treat, really.

"My children's parties are also no longer free-for-alls to which the whole class is invited. This year it has been four friends, one cake and a couple of packets of chips and sweets. Lunchbox treats are once a week, some weeks none at all," said Kearney.

Professor Carel van Aardt, head of household wealth research at Unisa's Bureau of Market Research, said food prices had increased 12.5% in the past year - much more than the 6.3% inflation rate.

''Employment growth is fairly low at the moment and while incomes are not growing, expenditure is and people are being squeezed. Savings are impossible for a lot of households," he said.

Between May 2015 and May this year the biggest price increases were for vegetables (22.8%), oils and fats (21.5%), breads and cereals (21.5%), fruits (13%), dairy (6.5%) and meat (6.3%).

block_quotes_start The main reason for cutting prices paid to farmers is not to be altruistic towards consumers - it's to protect their margins

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Market analyst Michael Potgieter of ETM Analytics, who has been tracking a basket of foods since June last year said: ''Our results suggest that there has been a very strong rise in the prices of maize meal - which increased by 36% - wheat, and products such as milk that require grain as production inputs."

He said there was evidence that imported luxury goods, such as olive oil, would not be as expensive looking ahead.

''The rand is coming back a little bit, which should assist in moderating import price pressures.

"But we should stress that South Africa's economy is highly fragile at the moment, with business confidence very low, which suggests that a more conservative approach to spending - saving is favoured - is still the wiser move," said Potgieter.

sub_head_start Basket case: supermarkets cashing in on our want sub_head_end

Food prices are rocketing way beyond consumer price index inflation, a Sunday Times shopping survey has confirmed.

We compared today's prices at four leading supermarkets for a basket of basic foodstuffs with the cost of the same basket two years ago.

The result was scary: at three of them, the basket now costs between 22% and 26% more. Spar was an exception, keeping its basket increase to just under 10%. Retailers said they were committed to giving shoppers the best possible deal - but a food industry analyst claimed profit margins were their overriding priority. Woolworths promised to defend consumers' wallets wherever possible.

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''Circumstances outside our control have an impact on prices," a statement said. "We will only accept price adjustments as a last resort after exploring all avenues to prevent one. We are focused on ensuring that we provide value for our customers, especially in tough economic times."

David North, group executive for strategy and communications at Pick n Pay, said the chain was working with suppliers to reduce costs. "Where prices have gone up, it has usually been as a result of the drought and its impact on food production. For example, the poor wheat harvest, combined with a weak rand and higher tariffs on imports, has unfortunately meant increases in the price of maize and flour."

The Shoprite Group said it took a tough stance in negotiations with suppliers.

But Tracy Ledger, a food and agriculture researcher, said supermarkets pressing suppliers to cut prices contributed to food insecurity. "One of the hungriest groups in South Africa are farm workers. And this is the result of supermarkets putting so much pressure on farmers - and that's what keeps small farmers out of the market."

Ledger said lower prices paid by retailers to farmers were not immediately passed on to consumers. "If they were, we wouldn't have a situation where the supermarket chains are making billions in profits.

"The main reason for cutting prices paid to farmers is not to be altruistic towards consumers - it's to protect their margins. Without a doubt the priority of supermarket chains is to protect their shareholders and management bonus pool. It's not whether or not the average family in South Africa can feed themselves," said Ledger.

laganparsadm@sundaytimes.co.za

sub_head_start Sincere apology to Spar and Checkers sub_head_end

In the above article "Trolleys of price pain for shoppers", published on July 3, we stated as fact that the price of lamb chops at Spar was R89.00 per kilo.

This was misleading as that was the price for braai chops, and not the rib chops calculated in the other retailers' baskets.

This resulted in an incorrect comparison as it was not on a like-for-like basis.

This error was introduced when our reporter went to check prices at Spar in Melville. When she got there, the meat had not yet been packed out.

Later, she called the store to check the price of lamb rib chops and was told it was R89.00. We went on to report this as fact without double-checking by going back to the Spar store and seeing this for ourselves.

This wrong information was used to calculate the basket of food from Spar.

Days after publication, Checkers contested the price of the cut of Spar's meat - making us go back to Spar to check the price of lamb rib chops.

On further investigation, we were told lamb rib chops cost R129.99 in the first week of July. This brought Spar's basket of food to R715.17, with rib chops at R129.99.

We apologise to Spar after the retailer used this incorrect information on its print advertising campaign, claiming it was the cheapest of all four major retailers and best in terms of inflation.

In the same story, we also incorrectly calculated the basket of food from Checkers at R711.94. This error was introduced during the editing process. The correct total was R698.95, making Checkers the cheapest of the supermarkets surveyed.

However, in terms of the inflation trend Spar remained the lowest.

Today we apologise profusely to both companies and we regret the errors.

We are taking measures, including disciplinary, resulting from the mistakes made.