During October 2020, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) indicated that the headline CPI and the food and non-alcoholic beverage price indices reached 3.3% and 5.4%, respectively.
The same indices were 3.0% and 3.9% during September 2020. Prices were compared for selected food items in urban areas for October 2020 vs. September 2020. Food items showing the largest price differences between October 2020 vs. September 2020 urban areas: rice (2kg) at a difference of R3.58, Ceylon/black tea (62.5g) at a difference of R1.38, peanut butter (400g) at a difference of R1.26, super maize (2.5kg) at a difference of R0.64, margarine spread (500g) at a difference of R0.61, white sugar (2.5kg) at a difference of R0.53 and sunflower oil (750mℓ) at a difference of R0.27.
This indicates that urban consumers paid R0.78 more on average, for these 11 food items during October 2020. The FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) in nominal terms, averaged 100.9 points in October 2020, up 3.0 points (3.1%) from September and 5.7 points (6.0%) higher than its value a year ago. The October value, the highest since January 2020, represented the fifth consecutive monthly increase. Much firmer prices of sugar, dairy, cereals and vegetable oils were behind the latest rise in the FFPI, while the meat sub-index fell slightly for the second consecutive month.
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