Statistics South Africa has recorded a slight decrease in annual consumer inflation for August – easing from some 3.5% to 3.3%.
This as fuel and food inflation slowed last month.
“The monthly change was also lower. The consumer price index (CPI) decreased by 0.1% between July and August, with four of 13 categories in the inflation basket registering monthly declines.
“These were food and non-alcoholic beverages [NAB] (-0,1%); furnishings, household equipment & routine maintenance (-0,1%); transport (-0,2%); and information & communication (-0,2%),” Stats SA said.
The annual rate for food and non-alcoholic beverages (NAB) edged lower to 5.2% in August from 5.7% in July.
Lower rates were also recorded in cereal products; fish and other seafood; milk, other dairy products and eggs; fruits and nuts, and vegetables.
“The rate for cereal products retreated from 2.1% in July to 1.5% in August. Some staples are cheaper than a year ago, including hot cereals (-7.8%) and white rice (-7.2%). Bread and pasta products recorded zero or low-price increases.
“Examples include white bread (0.0%), brown bread (+0.4%), macaroni (+0.5%) and spaghetti (+0.6%). Some items are notably more expensive, such as samp (+14.8%) and maize meal (+8.2%),” the institution said.
Although beef continues to have high annual rates, the monthly increase in August is the lowest since April.
“Beef mince recorded a 12-month change of 27.2% and a monthly rise of 0.2%. Stewing beef reached an annual rate of 32.3% while its monthly change was 0.6%. Beef steak prices were 28.6% higher than a year ago but down by 1.2% between July and August.
“These low monthly changes follow factory-gate inflation of -7.8% in July for beef carcasses,” Stats SA noted.
Furthermore, the price index for milk, other dairy products and eggs “declined by 1.1%, the lowest annual print since March 2011 when the rate was -1.4%. Prices for fresh full-cream milk decreased by 2.9% between August 2024 and August 2025”.
