Compiled by Dylan Bettencourt
- Supermarket price checks from Johannesburg show many basic groceries are between 70% and 100% more expensive than five years ago.
- The minimum wage rose 39% since 2021. Retailers warn that record diesel prices have not yet filtered through to shelves.
The same 2.5kg bag of branded cake flour that cost R21.99 in 2021 costs R44.99 today. Not a different brand. The same shelf, more than double the price.
Across the basics, the story is the same. A comparison of supermarket catalogues from around 2021 against current prices, checked across stores from Randburg to the East Rand, shows the pattern repeated on most staples.
Sugar went from R36.99 to R63 for a 2.5kg bag. Joko teabags from R29.99 to about R54.99. A jar of well-known coffee from R89.99 to roughly R169.99, The Citizen reported.
Tastic rice was R22.99 during the Covid period. It now approaches R50.
A dozen large eggs that cost R29.99 five years ago are closer to R55 today.
Bread moved more slowly. A branded loaf went from R13.99 to R20. Government standard white bread went from under R10 to close to R13 in many areas.
Some products got smaller on the way up. All Gold Tomato Sauce lost 50ml from the bottle. The price went from R22.99 to R46.99.
The national minimum wage went up R8.54 an hour over those five years, from R21.69 to R30.23. A bag of sugar went up R26.01. A box of teabags went up R25.
Official food inflation for the same period adds up to around 30%. Most of these products went up by 80%, 90% or more.
Retailers say the prices are not done. Suppliers have warned of more increases after diesel crossed R34 per litre for the first time this month. Lays chips, 120g, jumped 23% in two months alone.
Pictured above: A family shopping for groceries.
Image source: File
