In its latest report, the Competition Commission highlights that South Africans are paying excessively high prices for certain food items, although there has been a significant decrease in overall inflation.
This means that food prices rise rapidly due to factors like volatility and inflation but decrease slowly when these pressures ease.
The report notes that retailers still increase their profits while consumers, financially under the whip, battle high food prices. Food inflation remains nearly twice as high as the inflation rate for all goods and services.
In response, the commission is to monitor essential food costs throughout the food industry value chain. It aims to try to protect consumers from this situation.
