{"id":18076,"date":"2025-02-26T13:26:25","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T11:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/?p=18076"},"modified":"2025-02-26T13:26:25","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T11:26:25","slug":"consumer-inflation-edges-higher-in-january","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/?p=18076","title":{"rendered":"Consumer inflation edges higher in January"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Consumer inflation was 3,2% in January\u00a02025, up slightly from 3,0% in December\u00a02024. The January consumer price index (CPI) is the first to incorporate the changes to the CPI basket and weights announced last month.<sup>1<\/sup><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cpi2025.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-18077\" src=\"https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cpi2025-300x189.jpg\" alt=\"cpi2025\" width=\"300\" height=\"189\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cpi2025-300x189.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cpi2025-768x483.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cpi2025-1024x644.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cpi2025-100x63.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cpi2025.jpg 1220w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Food inflation slightly softer in January<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The CPI for food &amp; non-alcoholic beverages (NAB) increased by 2,3% in the 12\u00a0months to January. This is a lower increase than the 2,5% registered in December\u00a02024. Inflation slowed for meat; fruits &amp; nuts; sugar, confectionery &amp; desserts; fish &amp; other seafood; and milk, other dairy products &amp; eggs. Cereal products; hot beverages; cold beverages; oils &amp; fats; and vegetables registered higher rates.<\/p>\n<p>Meat prices were on average 0,5% lower in January\u00a02025 compared with January\u00a02024. This is the third month that the CPI for meat has been in deflation. This is mainly the result of a downward trend in the price index during 2024. However, in January prices increased by 0,8% month-on-month, following a 0,5% rise in December.<\/p>\n<p>Prices for cereal products increased by an annual 3,8% from 3,7% in December. Maize meal prices rose by 4,8% between December and January, taking the annual rate to 10,1%. The annual increase for samp was 15,4%. In contrast, prices dropped for both white (-0,7%) and brown (-0,5%) bread. The annual increase for white bread was 1,9% and for brown bread 1,0%.<\/p>\n<p>Inflation for hot beverages remains sticky at high levels. The annual increase for this category was 13,7% in January, slightly up from 13,5% in December. Overall prices rose by 1,0% between December and January. Instant coffee and rooibos tea both increased by 1,4% month-on-month.<\/p>\n<p>The annual inflation rate for instant coffee entered double-digit territory in March\u00a02022, falling briefly below 10% in August 2023 before peaking at 22,3% in August\u00a02024. The rate in January was 17,2%, the highest of all food products.<\/p>\n<p>Other food &amp; NAB items that witnessed notable annual increases in January include samp, fresh cabbages, dried beans, black tea, whiteners, fizzy drinks and chocolate.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cpi20256.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-18078\" src=\"https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cpi20256-300x161.jpg\" alt=\"cpi20256\" width=\"300\" height=\"161\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cpi20256-300x161.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cpi20256-768x411.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cpi20256-1024x548.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cpi20256-100x54.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cpi20256.jpg 1378w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Fuel prices rise for a third straight month<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The fuel index witnessed its third consecutive monthly rise, increasing by 0,9% in January compared with December. This took the annual rate to -4,5% from -10,2%. The price for inland 95-octane petrol, for example, was R21,59 in January, up from a recent low of R21,05 in October\u00a02024.<sup>2<\/sup> This contributed to the rise in overall transport inflation, which edged higher to -0,2% from -2,0% in December.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Other notable price changes<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Insurance &amp; financial services is a new index in the CPI. The index increased by 0,9% from December to January.<\/p>\n<p>For more information, download the January\u00a02025 CPI statistical release and associated Excel files with indices <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/?page_id=1854&amp;PPN=P0141&amp;SCH=73840\">here<\/a>. The archive is available <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/?page_id=1866&amp;PPN=P0141&amp;SCH=73835\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><sup>1 <\/sup>The weights of the CPI have been updated with effect from the January\u00a02025 release. Changes were also made to the basket of goods and services. All indices have been re-referenced (rebased) so that December 2024 = 100. Changes were made to the classification, resulting in name changes, and the introduction of a new index for insurance &amp; financial services. An article covering the changes to the basket is available <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/?p=17989\">here<\/a> and documents are available <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/?page_id=2528\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><sup>2 <\/sup>Department of Mineral Resources and Energy. <em>Comparing prices for petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin (IP)<\/em> (click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dmre.gov.za\/energy-resources\/energy-sources\/pretoleum\/petrol-price-archive\">here<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Similar articles are available on the Stats SA website and can be accessed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/?page_id=624\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>For a monthly overview of economic indicators and infographics, catch the latest edition of the Stats Biz newsletter <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/?page_id=6048\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Consumer inflation was 3,2% in January\u00a02025, up slightly from 3,0% in December\u00a02024. The January consumer price index (CPI) is the first to incorporate the changes to the CPI basket and weights announced last month.1 Food inflation slightly softer in January The CPI for food &amp; non-alcoholic beverages (NAB) increased by 2,3% in the 12\u00a0months to&nbsp; &nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/?p=18076\" class=\"btn btn-mini btn-info pull-right\" style=\"margin:10px 30px;\">read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inflation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18076"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18079,"href":"https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18076\/revisions\/18079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.statssa.gov.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}