March’s food basket is a mixture of price fluctuations, leaving many households in Buffalo City still struggling to make ends meet — particularly when balancing the rising cost of food with expenses such as transport and electricity.
According to the Household Affordability Index, compiled by the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity Group, food price data from across SA showed the cost of the average household food basket for March was R5,329.36. — a R16.14 increase for the same basket of items in February.
The national year-on-year difference showed a R51.43 increase from R5,277.93 in March 2024.
The index tracks prices from supermarkets and butcheries in Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, Pietermaritzburg, Mtubatuba and Springbok.
The economic group noted that of the 44 tracked foods, 22 had increased in price, 21 decreased and one item, oranges, remained the same.
The core staple foods of maize meal, rice, cake flour, white sugar, sugar beans, samp and cooking oil — all saw price increases in March.
“This is problematic as these items take up proportionally the most money in the household purse, and are bought first,” the economic justice group said.
“This means that the diversity of the family diet is dependent on the total cost of the staple foods, as the more nutrient rich foods like eggs, meats, dairy and vegetables, are only bought after the core staple foods have been secured.
“The core staple foods are principally starches — so the higher cost of staple foods is likely to reduce the amounts and quality of protein, calcium, fibre, vitamins and minerals in the family diet, all of these foods, are also essential for bodies to function optimally.”
The Dispatch visited three leading retail chain stores in East London and compared the average price of eight core food items in March with February’s prices:
- 1kg of potatoes decreased by 99c to R18.33;
- 750ml of sunflower oil increased by 33c;
- 12 large eggs increased by R4.33 to R49.31;
- A chicken tray decreased by R11.66 to R69.32;
- A loaf of brown bread remained at R11.32;
- 1l of cow’s milk remained at R17.99;
- 1kg of butternut decreased by R1 to R15.66; and
- 1kg of maize meal remained the same at R19.32.
The Dispatch also compared the prices year on year with the metro’s March 2025 food basket.
The price differences compared with 2024 were:
- 1kg of potatoes decreased by R4.99 from R23.32;
- 750ml of sunflower oil increased by 66c from R35.66;
- 12 large eggs increased by R6 from R43.31;
- A chicken tray increased by R1.33 from R67.99;
- A loaf of brown bread remained the same at R11.32;
- 1l of cow’s milk remained the same at R17.99;
- 1kg of butternut decreased by 66c from R16.32; and
- 1kg of maize meal increased by R3 from R16.32.
In March, the monthly child support grant of R530 was 33% below the food poverty line of R796, and 44% below the average cost to feed a child a basic nutritious diet of R951 — a 64c decrease compared to February.
However, the year-on-year average cost to feed a child a basic nutritious diet increased by R9.11.
The economic justice group noted that the minister of employment and labour gazetted a 4.4% annual increase in the national minimum wage (NMW) from March 1, raising the hourly rate from R27.58 to R28.79.
This worked out to an extra R1.21 per hour, or R9.68 for an eight-hour day and for a full working month of an average of 21 days, a R203.28 monthly increase.
“The wage workers earn is not just to sustain themselves alone, it is used to support the entire family. For black South African workers, one wage typically must support four people.
“Dispersed in a worker’s family of four people, the NMW, is R1,151,60 per person — this is below the upper-bound poverty line of R1,634 per person per month.”
In March, according to calculations using Pietermaritzburg-based figures, electricity and transport took up 57.4% of a worker’s wage — R2,642.97 of the monthly R4,606,40.
“Food is bought after money for transport and electricity have been paid for or set aside, leaving R1,963,43 — for food and everything else.
“In this scenario, there is no possibility of a worker being able to afford enough nutritious food for [his or] her family.”
With March data yet to be released, Stats SA reported consumer price inflation remained at 3.2% in February 2025, unchanged from January. The CPI increased by 0.9% month on month in February.
The Competition Commission released its latest Essential Food Pricing Monitoring (EFPM) on Thursday, which has tracked the cost of selected essential food items since the Covid-19 pandemic, to protect consumers from exploitation.
The report stated: “2024 was a difficult year for South African maize farmers who had to contend with dry conditions at a crucial point in the growing season.
“The upward pricing pressure from the concomitant supply challenges has started to filter into maize meal producer and retail prices.
“Events such as droughts are regional and have cascading effects across value chain actors and export markets.
“This, in turn, means that their ultimate effect on prices is influenced by local conditions and those in our export partners.
“The deep dive for this edition of the EFPM report explores supply and demand dynamics in the market for South African white maize in the 2024/2025 maize marketing season.
“Our analysis suggests that demand factors, through higher exports and higher local processing, have been a neglected element in explaining the increase in white maize prices observed from the middle of 2024 until the end of January 2025.”
The cost of eggs has remained high due to the avian flu outbreak.
“The egg value chain was severely affected by the highly pathogenic avian flu outbreak that occurred towards the end of 2023 ...
“A year later, prices have been slow to normalise. At the time of the outbreak, industry players predicted that flocks would normalise 17 months after the outbreak, which would be May 2025.
“The signs of the recovery are evident in the fact that egg producer prices are currently cheaper than they were in November 2023.”
Daily Dispatch