2025 was one of the hardest years for South African’s wallets as food prices, amongst other things they need to financial take care of, kept fluctuating. The Household Affordability Index revealed that May was the month when food cost the most. Food prices in the country remain a real concern, with the government attempting to ease the pressure by expanding the basket of essential foods that are VAT-free.
However, this attempt never saw the light of day, as the Minister of Finance EnochGodongwana scrapped the idea after the decisionnot to implement a 0.5% increase in the value-added tax (VAT) this year and next. There isn’t really much difference between the January food basket total and November’s. The Household Affordability Index compiled by the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group releases data at the end of every month on how food prices look.
In January, key data showedthat the average cost of the household food basket was R5 433.70, and in November it was R5 413.53, an almost R20 decrease. Women from low-income communities track the prices of 44 basic food items for the Household Affordability Index at 47 supermarkets and 32 butcheries where they shop in Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, Pietermaritzburg, and the Northern Cape. Some of the food items the women track are potatoes, onions, chicken livers, maize meal, sugar beans, samp, cooking oil, salt, curry powder, tea, beef, wors, beef tripe, fish, carrots, spinach, canned beans, apples, soup, chicken feet, beef liver, tomatoes, Cremora, bananas and brown bread.
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In January, 31 food items cost more, while the prices of 12 were less. But how did other months look during the year? For February, the index showedthat the household food basket cost R5 313.22, R120.48 less than in January, but R35.92 more than in February last year, when it cost R5 277.30.
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