The cost of a basic food basket increased by approximately R56 (+10,86 %) in nominal terms from R510 to R566 from February 2015 to February 2016, according to a statement by the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC).
A basic food basket containing 22 products, as compiled by the Food Price Monitoring Committee, includes, among others, apples (1kg), beef chuck (1kg), brick margarine (500g), tinned baked beans (410g), maize meal super (5kg), onions (1kg), peanut butter (400g), and sunflower oil (750ml).
The food items which showed the largest price differences between urban and rural areas were margarine 500g (R1,76 difference in price), sunflower oil 750ml (59c), Ceylon/black tea 62.5g (48c), loaf of brown bread 700g (39c) and a loaf of white bread 700g (39c), according to NAMC.
| Table 1: Comparison between urban and rural food prices (selected food items) | |||
| Product |
Rural Food Prices February 2016 |
Urban Food Prices February 2016 |
Price difference R/unit |
| Full cream milk – long life 1l | 12.63 | 12.63 | 0.00 |
| Loaf of brown bread 700g | 10.83 | 11.22 | 0.39 |
| Loaf of white bread 700g | 12.00 | 12.39 | 0.39 |
| Special maize 2.5 kg | 19.48 | 19.47 | -0.01 |
| Super maize 2.5 kg | 22.82 | 22.78 | -0.04 |
| Margarine spread 500g | 21.09 | 22.85 | 1.76 |
| Peanut butter 400g | 22.39 | 22.52 | 0.13 |
| Rice 2kg | 24.04 | 24.34 | 0.30 |
| Sunflower oil 750ml | 21.44 | 22.03 | 0.59 |
| Ceylon/black tea 62.5g | 11.42 | 11.90 | 0.48 |
| White sugar 2.5kg | 30.07 | 30.04 | -0.03 |
| Average |
0.36
|
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