Inflation has risen in South Africa, with meat inflation reaching a seven-year high as South Africans spend more at the tills for beef, pork, lamb and chicken.
The latest data from Stats SA states that annual consumer inflation rose slightly from 3.3% in August to 3.4% in September.
The monthly change in the consumer price index (CPI) was 0.2%, with annual inflation accelerating across several product categories. This includes transport, restaurants & accommodation.
However, food & non-alcoholic beverages (NAB), alcoholic beverages & tobacco and furnishings, household equipment & routine maintenance recorded lower rates.
Food & NAB showed mixed results over the month, with meat and maize meal inflation remained high while price decreases were recorded for products such as milk, eggs and white rice.
Meat inflation reached 11.7%, the highest annual rate since January 2018 (13.4%).
Although month-on-month increases for beet products have slowed, price levels have remained high.
Stewing beef, for example, recorded an annual rise of 32.2%, even if this showed no monthly change.
Beef prices have shot up in South Africa as suppliers have struggled with an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.
Other meat categories seeing significant increases are pork and lamb, which Stats SA said rose notably in September.
Chicken inflation has also risen, even at a slower rate. IQF (individual quick frozen) chicken climbed from 4.4% in August to 5.0%.
That said, the milk, other dairy products & eggs category remained in deflationary territory for a fourth straight month, with prices on average 1.6% lower than a year ago.
Most varieties of milk were also cheaper. The prices for fresh full-cream milk decreased by an annual 2.1%.
Egg prices saw a massive 8.2% decrease, with the cost of 18 eggs dropping to R62.58 in September 2025, down from R69.36 in September 2024.
Cheese inflation up, with Gouda rising by 6.4% and cheddar by 6.3% compared to a year ago. The annual rate for cereals grew slightly from 1.5% in August to 1.6%.
Prices for white rice fell 7.8% compared to a year ago, while maize meal inflation accelerated to 9.5% from 8.2% in August.
NAB eased from 4.9% to 4.1%, a marked decrease from the 9.5% rate seen in September 2024. Inflation for hot beverages also eased to 9.0% from 10.0% in August, and lower than 15.8% recorded a year ago.
Coffee lovers again saw the largest increase in the category, with prices rising 12.2%. This was well ahead of fizzy drinks in a can (7.8%), black tea (7.1%) and Fizzy drinks in a bottle (-1.3%).
Higher rents and cheaper travel
Outside of food, the September CPI also contains results for the latest quarterly survey of housing rentals.
Annual rentals increased by 3.2%, up from 3.0% in June. Townhouse rentals saw the largest annual rise, increasing from 4.1% to 5.4%. Imputed rentals also accelerated to 3.0% from 2.5%.
In positive news, the transport category saw its thirteenth straight month of deflation, with the annual rate at -0.1% in September.
Motor vehicles are 1.4% more expensive than a year ago, but passenger transport is 1,9% cheaper.
Fuel prices also dropped by 0,3% between August and September. The annual rate for fuel was a negative 2.2%.
