Stats SA announced on Wednesday that annual consumer price inflation (CPI) in October climbed for the second consecutive month, to 3.6%, an increase of 0.1% month-on-month.
The annual CPI print, which is up from 3.4% in September, comes a week after finance minister Enoch Godongwana announced during his medium-term budget policy statement that the official inflation target for South Africa would be adjusted downwards to 3%, the first adjustment to the official target in 25 years.
Statistician general Risenga Maluleke said in the statistical release that housing and utilities, as well as food and non-alcoholic beverages, were the main contributors to the upwards trend.
“The main contributors to the 3.6% annual inflation rate were housing and utilities, at 4.5% and contributing 1.1 percentage points, and food and non-alcoholic beverages, at 3.9%, contributing 0.7 of a percentage point.”
He stated that, in October, the annual inflation rate for goods was 3.1%, up from 2.9% in September, and the annual inflation rate for services was 4.0%, also up from 3.9% in September.
The statistical release said while food and non-alcoholic beverages drove CPI, their inflation weakened to 3.9% from 4.5% in September, with several of their categories seeing a “slowdown”, including vegetables, fruit and nuts, cold and hot beverages, sugar, confectionery and desserts, and meat.
“Categories that recorded faster price growth include cereal products; fish and other seafood; oils and fats; milk, other dairy products, and eggs; and the miscellaneous group, other food.
“Meat inflation retreated from its highest level in almost eight years, moderating to 11.4% from 11.7% in September. Despite the lower reading, several meat products remain in double-digit territory, including stewing beef at 30.9%, beef steak at 27.9%, beef mince at 27.1%, sausages at 17.3%, boerewors at 15.6% and mutton at 13.4%.”
The release said corned meat, fresh whole chicken, and bacon are all cheaper than a year ago, with the average price for 200g of bacon, for example, declining from R41.25 to R41.11 over this period.
“Inflation for sugar, confectionery and desserts slowed to 3.5%, the lowest since March 2022 at 3.4%. White and brown sugar, jam, peanut butter and chocolate recorded lower rates. Hot beverage inflation dipped to 8.8%, its weakest level since August 2023 at 6.3%. In October, softer rates were recorded for black tea and cereals at 5.1%, rooibos tea at 1.6% and cappuccino sachets at 1.4%.”
The annual rate for cereal products rose to 2.0% from 1.6% in September, while samp and maize meal saw double-digit inflation in October, with maize meal reaching a four-month high at 10.7%.
“Several products cost less than a year ago, including white rice, brown bread, hot cereals and instant noodles. Though it is in deflationary territory, the milk, other dairy products and eggs category witnessed a rise from -1.6% in September to -1.5% in October. A range of products carry a cheaper price tag than they did in the same month last year, including eggs, maize-based food drinks and several varieties of milk.”
The annual rate for transport turned positive after 13 months of deflation, rising from ‑0.1% in September to 1.5% in October, the release said.
“Fuel prices increased by 0.1% between September and October, with diesel declining by 0.7% and petrol rising by 0.2%. This took the annual rate for fuel to 3.3%, the first positive reading since August 2024.”
TimesLIVE
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