South Africa’s inflation falls to 4.3% as food prices hit 16-year low

Inflation

Cape Town – South Africa’s headline consumer inflation slowed to 4.3% in July from 5.0% in June, marking the first decline in five months, as softer food prices, lower municipal tariff increases and falling fuel prices eased pressure on consumers.

According to Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), the monthly increase in the consumer price index (CPI) fell to 0.2% in July from 0.7% in June.

The biggest contributor to the slowdown was food and non-alcoholic beverages, with annual inflation in the category falling to 0.9% – its lowest level in more than 16 years.

“This is the lowest print for food & NAB in more than 16 years, since June 2010 when it was 0.7%,” Stats SA said.

The agency said the decline was driven mainly by cereal products and meat.

Cereal products recorded annual price deflation of 2.0%, compared with 1.5% in June. Maize meal prices fell 3.1% month-on-month, while macaroni declined 0.7% and white bread 0.6%.

Annual meat inflation also slowed sharply to 1.5% from 5.1% in June. Unprocessed beef products recorded some of the largest declines, with stewing beef falling 7.9%, beef steak 6.1% and beef mince 5.8% year-on-year.

However, prices increased in several processed meat products, including corned meat, which rose 11.8%, meat patties by 7.8%, russians by 7.7% and sausages by 6.2%.

Lower municipal increases

Stats SA also attributed the moderation in inflation to smaller municipal tariff increases compared with 2025.

Electricity tariffs rose by 8.1% in July, down from 10.4% a year earlier, while water tariffs increased by 10.2%, compared with 12.1% in 2025.

Refuse removal tariffs rose 4.7%, down from 6.6% in 2025.

Sewerage tariffs were an exception, increasing by 7.8%, compared with 6.5% last year.

Fuel prices ease pressure

Transport inflation also slowed substantially, falling to 8.9% in July from 12.7% in June.

Stats SA attributed the decline mainly to lower fuel prices. Petrol prices fell 7.1% and diesel prices declined 11.7% between June and July.

The annual fuel inflation rate consequently dropped to 20.6% from 34.3% in June.

Despite the monthly declines, fuel remained significantly more expensive than a year earlier, with petrol prices 19.3% higher and diesel prices 28.8% higher.

The latest inflation figures indicate that food prices and lower fuel costs provided significant relief to consumers in July, although several categories continued to record price increases.

Stats SA said the monthly CPI increase of 0.2% was also substantially lower than the 0.7% recorded in June.

Article written by