South African food and non-alcoholic beverage (NAB) inflation continued to decelerate in June, in year-on-year (y-o-y) terms, the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy has highlighted. Statistics South Africa data showed that it slowed from 1.9% in May to 1.6% in June. This was in contrast to consumer price index (CPI) headline inflation, which accelerated from 4.5%, y-o-y, in May, to 5% in June. However, food and NAB inflation did jump in month-on-month (m-o-m) terms, from 0.1% in May to 0.4% in June.
The food category that had the highest y-o-y inflation in June was meat, at 5.1%. However, meat inflation has been steadily declining since January, when it stood at 13.5%. Within the meat category, the highest y-o-y inflation in June was experienced by pork (chops, fillet, ham, bacon and ribs), with a range between 5.3% and 15%; beef (offal, at 12.7%, and fillet, at 5.3%); mutton/lamb (offal, leg, stew, neck, chops, ranging from 6.7% to 10.7%); and chicken (7.4% for non-individually quick frozen (non-IQF) portions and 6.2% for IQF portions). Other meat products with high y-o-y inflation were boerewors (9.2%), viennas (8.3%) and polony (7.4%).
The category with the second highest y-o-y inflation in June was NAB, at 5%. The highest levels were recorded for Ceylon or black tea (8.4%), rooibos tea (7.9%) and the smaller pack sizes of carbonated drinks (also 7.9%).
