South African food inflation falls again in October

By Rebecca Campbell

Food and non-alcoholic beverage (NAB) inflation (henceforth to be referred to just as food inflation) in South Africa fell again in October, the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) think tank has highlighted, in its latest Food Inflation Brief.

Last month, food inflation ran at 3.6%, year-on-year, while the equivalent figure for September was 4.7%.
October was the eighth month in a row in which food inflation fell within the 3% to 6% inflation target bracket.

But it was also the third consecutive month in which food inflation was higher than consumer price index (CPI) headline inflation, which was 2.8% (below the inflation target range).

Month-on-month food inflation in October was 0.4%, while the equivalent CPI headline inflation figure was -0.1%.
Food inflation contributed 0.7 percentage points to the year-on-year CPI headline inflation figure, and 0.1 of a percentage point to the month-on-month figure.

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