Food prices, dam levels ‘stable’

Though prices change from store to store, staple foods cost the same

Cost of staples has not moved after festive season; rains are starting to help

It’s February, and while prices for chocolates and flowers, among other things, are expected to increase, you can rest assured there have been minimal price changes to your everyday food basket. An increase can be seen with a dozen eggs having gone up by 99c to R24.99 from October 2018’s R24, while 1l of milk has shown a big decrease of R2.30 from R11.69 to R9.99, taking it back to its price in April 2018, until it escalated in September.

However, other staple foods remain unchanged from 2018, with bread still at R7.49 for three months running now, including 1kg of mielie meal, which has been at R8.99, as well as 1kg of potatoes, which are also still R12.99 for the same period.

A 750ml bottle of cooking oil is also at an unchanged R17.99, where it has been since it increased by 50c in September 2018.

Some chicken prices have remained at R37.99 for the past three months, as have a kilogram of butternut, at R12.99.

Restaurateur Lwandy Ngebe, of Elahleni Food and Braai, said she was thrilled to hear that prices remained the same for most staple foods, although she acknowledged that it varied from store to store.

“However, it’s good to know that even with the terrible economy there are some prices that don’t change,” she said.

Grocery shopper Verdine du Plooy said it was too soon to praise the stable prices.

“My concern is that when things do go up, they’ll probably go up drastically,” he said.