Inflation dips slightly in April

Inflation dipped slightly in April to 5.2% from 5.3% in March and 5.6% in February, with housing and utilities, miscellaneous goods and services, food and non-alcoholic beverages and transport the main drivers behind the headline rate in April.

According to Statistics SA, the monthly change in the consumer price index was 0.3% in April, softer than the 0.8% increase recorded in March.

General food inflation slowed, except for vegetables, fruit and hot beverages. Annual inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages moderated further from 5.1% in March to 4.7% in April, representing a fifth consecutive month of decline.

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Food price increases

Vegetable prices increased on average by 7.4% in the 12 months to April, which was higher than the 6.0% increase recorded in March. Vegetable products that recorded relatively high price increases include potatoes, frozen potato chips, broccoli and beans.

The annual inflation rate for fruit increased from 3.3% in March to 4.5%, mainly driven by higher prices for bananas and apples. Hot beverage inflation also increased marginally from 11.2% to 11.4%, with the rates for instant coffee and black tea remaining in double-digit territory.

On the other hand, bread and cereal inflation continued to slow, declining for a twelfth consecutive month in April. The annual rate eased to 4.3% from 5.0% in March. Bread flour, cake flour, ready-mix flour, white bread, pasta, rusks, savoury biscuits and maize meal were all cheaper than a year ago. The average price of a loaf of white bread was R18.43 in April, down from R19.07 in April 2023.

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Sharp increases and some good news

However, sharp price increases were recorded for rice, pizzas and pies, instant noodles and sweet biscuits, with annual rice inflation accelerating to 26.4%, the highest reading since May 2009 when it was 41.9%.

The annual rate for sugar, sweets and desserts cooled to 16.8% from 17.8% in March, but inflation for products such as white sugar, brown sugar, chocolates and jam remained elevated.

Good news in the April data was that egg inflation recorded its fifth consecutive month of decline after peaking at 39.9% in November 2023 before receding to 25.1% in April 2024.

Except for whiteners, condensed milk, gouda cheese and fresh cream, most products in the milk, eggs and cheese category recorded lower annual rates in April. This pulled overall inflation for the category down to 8.7% from 10.1% in March.

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Other notable price increases in April

Other notable price changes in April were:

• The annual rate for restaurants and hotels that increased to 7.5% in April from 5.7% in March as hotel prices jumped by 1.5% between March and April, taking the annual rate for hotels to 10.4%.
• Fuel prices increased by a monthly 1.9%, pushing the annual rate to 9.0% with Inland 95-octane petrol costing R25.12 per litre in April 2024, up from R22.97 in April 2023.

These products recorded the most significant annual and monthly price increases in April: