Food prices for low-income consumers increasing again

It looks like food prices are starting to rise again as the average cost of the household food basket increased in April after stabilising in March and February. This means that low-income consumers have less money to spend on nutritious food for their families.

According to the Household Affordability Index for April, the average cost of the household food basket was R5 336.31, R58.38 (1.1%), more than in March. It is also R312.36 (6.2%) more than the cost in April 2023.

Women who live in low-income communities compile the price survey on behalf of the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group, based on the prices of 44 basic foods from 47 supermarkets and 32 butcheries, in Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, Pietermaritzburg, Mtubatuba in Northern KwaZulu-Natal and Springbok in the Northern Cape.

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Higher vegetable prices, particularly for onions, drove the price of April household food basket upwards, while the Johannesburg food basket, which increased substantially more than the baskets for Durban and Cape Town, further drove the average household food basket price upwards.

Food prices that decreased and increased

In April the prices of 27 foods increased, while the prices of 17 foods decreased.

Foods in the basket which increased in price in April 2024 by 5% or more include:

• sugar beans (+6%),
• onions (+44%),
• tomatoes (+13%),
• carrots (+18%),
• spinach (+12%),
• green peppers (+17%), and
• soup (+5%).

Foods in the basket which increased in price by 2% or more include:

• white sugar (+2%),
• maas (+2%),
• chicken livers (+2%),
• beef liver (+2%),
• beef tripe (+2%),
• cabbage (+4%),
• tinned pilchards (+3%),
• bananas (+4%),
• peanut butter (+2%),
• apricot jam (+3%) and
• brown bread (+2%).

Foods that cost more than 5% less in April include:

• potatoes (-5%),
• tea (-5%),
• fish (-5%),
• apples (-12%), and
• oranges (-30%).

Foods that cost 5% less include:

• frozen chicken portions (-4%),
• curry powder (-2%),
• stock cubes (-3%),
• full cream milk (-2%),
• wors (-4%),
• canned baked beans (-2%), and
• margarine (-2%).

In April the price of the food basket increased by small amounts in Durban and Cape Town and by a very high amount in Johannesburg, while the price decreased by high amounts in Springbok, Pietermaritzburg and Mtubatuba.

The Johannesburg food basket cost R224.90 (4.2%) more compared to March and R591.12 (11.8%) more than in March last year. The higher price for the Johannesburg basket was driven not only by the higher vegetable prices, but also several of the core staple foods, such as maize meal, rice, flour, sugar, beans and bread.

The Durban basket cost R12.88 (0.2%) more than in March and R376.33 (7.7%) more than a year ago, while the Cape Town basket cost R28.15 (0,5%) more than in March and R96.91 (1,9%) more than a year ago.

The Springbok basket cost R140.57 (-2.4%) less than in March and R384.66 (7.2%) than a year ago, while the Pietermaritzburg basket cost R61.82 (-1.2%) less than in March and R90.77 (1.8%) more than a year ago, the Mtubatuba basket cost R91.76 (-1.7%) less than in March and R140.32 (2.7%) more than a year ago.

Effect of food prices on what poor children eat

The effect of the food basket price on what children in low-income households eat is clear: there is not enough money to buy enough nutritious food. In April the average cost to feed a child a basic nutritious diet was R959.38.

Over the past month, the average cost to feed a child a basic nutritious diet increased by R17.49 (1.9%) and R67.24 (7.5%) more than a year ago. In April the annual Child Support Grant increase of R20 came into effect, taking the grant from R510 to R530 per child per month.

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The group notes that the annual increase for the Child Support Grant is arbitrary and has no relation to projected inflation for the year, nor the cost of raising a child. National Treasury increased the Child Support Grant by R10 in 2021, R20 in 2022, R30 in 2023 and R20 in 2024. This means that over the past 4 years, the total increase on the Child Support Grant was R80.

In comparison, based on the group’s data on the average cost to feed a child a basic nutritious diet per month over this same period from April 2021 to April 2024, the increase to feed a child is R207.61 from R751.77 in April 2021 to R959.38 in April 2024. In April this year, the Child Support Grant of R530 was 30% below the Food Poverty Line of R760 and 45% below the average cost to feed a child a basic nutritious diet.

Mothers welcomed R20 grant increase – though it is not enough

However, mothers who spoke to the group welcomed the R20 increase although they said it is not enough. “The gratitude mothers expressed for the extra R20 brought tears to our eyes knowing that our expectations of the state are just so low, our situations are so desperate and mothers carry our future generation with shoulders whose strength defies all logic,” Mervyn Abrahams, programme coordinator for the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group, says.

“R530 a month is not enough for a mother to raise a healthy and happy child in a stable home, nor is it enough to ensure her child is able to make the most of her education and other possibilities that may be available to her as she grows up.”

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Abrahams says this can be illustrated by some of the conversations he has recently had with mothers about how they spend the Child Support Grant.

“Mothers with two small children, receiving two grants of R530 each, totalling R1 060, tell us that when the grant money comes in, they typically prioritize it. They pay Masingcwabisane (burial insurance for the family) and creche fees (for younger children) before they buy groceries consisting of maize meal, rice, cooking oil, washing powder/green bar soap, potatoes and sugar. At this point, they tell us, it is done: the grant money is finished.”

There is no money left for electricity or gas and nothing to buy eggs, sugar beans, maas and milk, which means no protein, calcium, vitamins or minerals in the children’s diet, while there is also no money for tea, vegetables and fruit, which means no vitamins, minerals and fibre.

These mothers are also unable to afford toothpaste, body cream and toilet paper and they have no money to pay for safe transport for small children to school. There is also no money for underwear, shoes, socks, shirts, dresses and jerseys and no money for crayons, pencils, paper and reading books and no money for taking sick children to the clinic, Abrahams says.

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Grant increase could lead to universal improvements

“The Child Support Grant is such an important intervention. It is well targeted and well used. If increased it has major potential for universal improvements in equity, economic growth and employment, while also offering giant leaps in better education, nutrition and health, social and economic outcomes.”

However, he points out, while enormous amounts of money are invested in the Child Support Grant programme at a country-level, at the individual child-level, the grant is low and means that the country reaps only a tiny fraction of the monies invested, including foregoing the massive savings down the line from a healthy, well-nourished, stable young populace.”

He says the group’s plea has been to prioritise child nutrition as a political decision because healthy children whose bodies and minds are properly developed immediately provide stability across all spheres of society and the economy while changing the current trajectory of South Africa into one which is able to make full use of the boundless positive possibilities that our new modern world provides.