AS South Africans enjoyed Heritage Day with a braai on Friday, stubbornly high meat prices lifted food inflation in August this year. Economists said meat could be singled out as the biggest culprit in the uptick in food inflation, given its weighting in the food basket, after posting a double-digit increase of 10.7 percent year-on-year.

Dineo Faku | IOL

“The combination of supply constraints due to the reduced pace of beef and sheep slaughter and the decreased volumes of poultry imports underpinned the recent up-trend in meat prices”, said senior agricultural economist at FNB Agri-Business Paul Makube.

After showing signs of moderation for the second half of 2021, with the July food price inflation steadying at 7 percent year-on-year, the August print came in on the upside by 0.4 percent month-on-month, and 7.4 percent year-on-year.

August Consumer Price Index inflation lifted to 4.9 percent year-on-year, from a prior 4.6 percent year-on-year, on elevated fuel price inflation drifting further away from the midpoint of the SA Reserve Bank’s target range of 3 percent to 6 percent.