South Africa’s annual consumer price inflation remained unchanged at 5.2% in May according to the latest data released by Statistics South Africa on Wednesday.
Annual rates for four of the 12 product groups surveyed remained steady between April and May, including food and non-alcoholic beverages. Higher rates were recorded for transport, alcoholic beverages, tobacco and recreation and culture. Inflation was softer for miscellaneous goods and services, communication, clothing and footwear, health, restaurants and hotels.
Food inflation stalls
After five consecutive months of decline, food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation remained steady at 4.7% in May, unchanged from April. Bread and cereals continued to trend downward, slowing further to 3.9%. This is the lowest annual reading for the category since February2022 when the rate was 3.7%.
Milk, eggs and cheese inflation moderated for a fifth consecutive month, on the back of slower price increases for cheese, selected milk products and eggs. The annual rate for eggs remains elevated at 21% but is softer than April’s 25.1%.
Inflation for sugar, sweets and desserts also continued a downward trajectory, dampened by lower rates for sugar, jam, chocolate and ice cream. Although sugar inflation cooled in May, annual increases for both white and brown varieties remain in double-digit territory, at 18.8% and 15.8% respectively.
May saw an uptick in inflation for hot beverages, oils and fats, fish, fruit, vegetables and meat. Hot beverages quickened from 11.4% in April to 14.2% in May, the highest since January 2023 (16.4%). Inflation for instant coffee, ground coffee or coffee beans, and black tea stands above 10%. Instant coffee prices rose by an annual 17.9%, up from 13.8% in April.
Digging a little deeper into the data, the average price for instant coffee (250 grams) was 82% higher in May 2024 than in January 2017.
Notable price changes
With winter chills currently setting in, the price for cold and flu medication witnessed an annual rise of 11.1%. Other health-related products that recorded relatively large increases included eyedrops (up 15.9%), laxatives (up 11.3%), cough syrup (up 8.1%) and vitamins (up 7.1%). Despite these increases, overall inflation for health products cooled from 7.7% in April to 5.8% in May.
Transport quickened to 6.3% from 5.7% in April. This is the highest rate for the category since October 2023 (7.4%). Fuel was the major culprit, with petrol and diesel prices increasing on average by 9.3% over the last 12 months.
The index for restaurants and hotels rose by an annual 6.5%. Hotel prices were up by 8.0% over the same period, with hotels in Gauteng, the Free State and Limpopo registering increases higher than 10%.
The miscellaneous goods and services category recorded an annual rate of 7.1%, slightly softer than 7.2% in April. Personal care products recorded a fifth consecutive month of disinflation, slowing to 7.0% in May from a recent high of 10.3% in December 2023.
