While record unemployment figures increase the number of South Africans who cannot afford to feed their families, the price of food is also rising.
The Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) reported in its Food Inflation Brief for July that food inflation in South Africa had been increasing since February this year. While the month-on-month increase was only 0.2%, the comparison with July 2020 showed a jump of 6.7%.
The good news in the report is that BFAP expects food inflation to decline in coming months as oil prices – a key driver of food prices – ease off recent highs. However, it also expects that global economic recovery will be retarded by the spread of the Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus, affecting food and commodity prices.
