E ssential Food Pricing Monitoring Report – March 2023

Business Tech. 2022. What to Expect from Meat Prices in South Africa Heading to December. Available online: https://businesstech. co.za/news/lifestyle/641827/what-to-expect-from-meat-prices-in-south-africa-heading-to-december/ The Competition Commission (“Commission”) has been monitoring the price of essential foods since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. While the effects of the pandemic on many markets have largely subsided, food prices continue to be elevated and vulnerable to supply shocks. A recent example is the disruption of the global grain value chain following the Eastern European conflict. Domestically, worsening loadshedding continues to affect the daily operations of businesses throughout the food value chain. During the last few months of 2022, market indicators pointed to the risk of increases in the price of meat and particularly poultry products. Specific risk factors were high domestic and international feed costs, the spread of Avian influenza across Europe, the United States of America, and Mexico; import tariffs on poultry imports; and the depreciation of the rand.1 More generally, the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition’s (DTIC) Poultry Master Plan developed with input from various stakeholders identified several long-term challenges hampering the sector’s growth and performance. These are: i) the cost of feed; ii) the scale of production; iii) imports of certain chicken pieces; iv) the inability to export; and v) the slow pace of transformation throughout the value chain. This edition of the EFPM begins with a review of price movements in essential food products before doing a deep dive into the poultry value chain. Recent pricing development for essential foods The Commission has continued to monitor the price of essential foods identified by the public and market commentary. These are sunflower oil, margarine, bread, and maize meal, and fruits and vegetables. We briefly track the price evolution of these products below. Sunflower oil The August 2022 edition of the EFPM Report focused on the price of sunflower oil in response to public concerns about steep price increases.