Latest news with #foodinflation
Zawya
9 hours ago
- Business
- Zawya
Meat, vegetable price surge pushes South Africa's food inflation to 4.4% in May
The latest update on South Africa's food inflation revealed a further acceleration, as vegetable and meat prices increased in May 2025. South Africa's annual food inflation jumped again by 1.1 percentage points from the previous month to 4.4% year-on-year in May 2025. However, monthly food inflation slowed to 1.2% month-on-month in May relative to 1.3% m/m in April 2025. Nonetheless, headline consumer inflation remained well contained after a surprise pause at 2.8% year-on-year in May 2025, with the monthly trend still flat and decelerating below 1% at 0.2% month-on-month. Fruit and nuts inflation sees mixed movement While the fruits and nuts inflation posted the biggest annual increase of 6.2 percentage points from April to 13.5% year-over-year in May, it fell for the third consecutive month to -1.3% month-over-month, which reflects the current favourable supply situation following excellent seasonal production conditions. Earlier weather-induced supply constraints with harvest and logistics delays caused a surge in vegetable inflation to 10.3% year-on-year (+5.8 percentage points) and 5.9% m/m (+1.2 percentage points) in May 2025. The rally in meat prices continued on the back of tight supplies, thus lifting meat inflation by 1.2ppts from April to a 23-month high of 4.4% year-on-year in May 2025. Monthly meat inflation, however, decelerated to 2.3% month-on-month in April and to 1.2% in May 2025. We are not surprised at this development as prices at the producer level surged across the livestock complex, with average class A beef carcass prices breaching the R70/kg level for the first time in history. Prices accelerated despite the disease outbreaks that have now complicated the price outlook and the domestic supply dynamics. Foot-and-mouth disease outbreak tightens supply The foot‑and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak is now in full swing, resulting in an export ban and a quarantine of affected establishments. The quarantine has created a short supply crunch due to the inability to slaughter. Further, the constrained import supplies due to avian influenza (AI)-induced ban on South Africa's biggest poultry meat supplier, Brazil, elicited further upside for prices, particularly the mechanically deboned meat (MDM), which is used in the manufacturing of products such as polony, etc. SA is a net importer of MDM due to a lack of domestic capacity. Meanwhile, the bread and cereals inflation continued to surprise on the downside after decelerating to 4.5% y/y and only nudging 0.1 percentage points from April to 0.4% month-on-month in May 2025. It is apparent that the lag effect of supply shock and the consequent spike in grain prices in the past eight months did fully materialise. Globally, food inflation as per the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) decelerated sharply by 2 percentage points from April to 6% y/y in May 2025 as declines in cereal, vegetables, and sugar prices more than outweighed gains in the animal protein categories (dairy, meat). Strong global demand boosted the monthly bovine, ovine, and pig meat prices, which advanced by 1%, 8.3%, and 2.3% month-on-month, respectively, in May. Animal protein prices diverge globally However, global pig meat inflation remained in deflationary mode for the fourteenth consecutive month at ‑0.4% year-on-year while bovine and ovine meats were sharply higher by 11.8% and 29.7% year-on-year, respectively. AI hammered the poultry market as import bans from some countries and the subsequent oversupply forced a reduction in quotations from Brazil. Poultry meat came in at -0.8% month-on-month but accelerated to 3.3% year-on-year in May from 2.6% year-on-year in April. On a parting note, the combination of a renewed rand exchange rate appreciation and a decent summer crop harvest outlook poses a downside risk to most agriculture commodities for the year ahead. Further, meat prices are increasingly surging into consumer resistance territory and may not sustain these levels for a longer period, given the timid economic growth and subdued consumer buying power. Nonetheless, the continued downside at the pump, with fuel falling by 14% year-on-year, as well as a flat to lower interest rate outlook, bodes well for consumer financial recovery for the remainder of the year. All rights reserved. © 2022. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
BBC News
6 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Meat costs have rocketed, say Derby food business owners
Restaurants and butchers in Derby say increasing meat prices have resulted in the most challenging conditions since they Steakhouse, based in the city centre, has been running for 17 years but its bosses say they are having to adapt the business in response to soaring Butchers, in Alvaston, said the price of mince had risen by nearly a third comes after the British Retail Consortium (BRC), which represents supermarkets and other retailers, announced that higher beef and fresh produce prices had pushed UK food inflation to an annual high. As well as meat, food prices across the country have increased for business owners and for people doing their weekly prices rose 2.8% in the year to May, the highest annual rate since May 2024 when food inflation was 3.2%, according to the BRC. Farming industry experts said beef prices in particular had been rising due to high demand and low from the Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) showed the total slaughter of cattle and calves from January to April 2025 was 4% lower than the same period in restaurants and butchers, a 350kg prime cattle carcass has also risen by an average of £738 compared to last year, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) to the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers, the price rise across beef and lamb cuts was up 20.96% and 19.92% over the past 12 months. 'Trying to survive' Datsun Li, head chef at Emily's Steakhouse, said the price of beef had "rocketed" in recent months."Steaks are a premium product and our margins have always been quite narrow, but recently when the prices have gone up we have not been able to pass those forward," he said,This has affected the restaurant's business and it is now runnning a booking only service."If we have no bookings this evening we will not open," he said."If there is no other reservations it is not realistic for us to run the place. We are operating on a survival basis."Jack Bradley, director at Cleavers Butchers Ltd, said he had noticed beef is costing him more and more."I would say the price of mince has gone up about 25-30%," he told the BBC."It's one of the biggest increases we've since we've been in charge."Covid was quite bad - I think it was bad for everyone - but then it all came back down. "There doesn't really seem to be an end. Hopefully farmers can make their money, we can make our money and provide a good service for our customers."A Defra spokesperson said: "Our commitment to farmers remains steadfast."That's why this government is investing £5bn into farming, the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country's history, and has appointed former National Farmers Union president Baroness Minette Batters to recommend new reforms to boost farmers profits."
Daily Mail
03-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Loblaw warns Canadians of price hikes
Canadians should brace for more expensive groceries. Loblaw Companies Limited, a major Canadian retailer, warns that prices on everyday essentials will continue to climb. This is largely due to the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, which are increasing costs for goods imported from the United States. Loblaw Companies Limited, parent company of major Canadian grocery chains like Loblaws, No Frills, and Real Canadian Superstore, released its May food inflation report on Tuesday, May 27. The report indicates that thousands of everyday items are set to rise in price. While this isn't welcome news for Canadians struggling with grocery bills, the retailer noted that the increases could have been even more severe. Loblaw has indicated that recent government actions, specifically a six-month reprieve on tariffs for certain U.S. food manufacturing and packaging imports, are helping to prevent a drastic surge in grocery prices. The stabilization of the Canadian dollar is also contributing to mitigating the risk of a sharp or prolonged spike in food inflation. Loblaw has confirmed that the Canadian government's recent decision to exempt 'indirect tariffs' on certain US imports will help stabilize food prices. This applies to products like chocolate chips or peanuts, which are used as ingredients in goods manufactured in Canada. Previously, these indirect tariffs were a significant concern for food costs due to the widespread use of imported components in Canadian-made products. With this change, only final products imported from the US will now be subject to tariffs, offering relief across a substantial number of items on supermarket shelves. Despite some relief, Loblaw states that tariffs continue to apply to thousands of different items, including a wide range of food products imported from the U.S. This impacts categories such as produce, rice, pasta, dairy, and coffee, alongside health and wellness products like soap, shampoo, and cosmetics. Loblaw estimates that consumers can expect tariff-related price increases on approximately 6,000 items in a conventional grocery store, with roughly half of these being food products.
Telegraph
31-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
I tasted 13 vanilla ice creams – this budget supermarket tub beats the posh offerings
I did a double take when I looked at my tasting notes for this article. In front of me were 13 bowls of vanilla ice cream – no labels or brands visible, just a lineup of anonymous products (marked A to M) for me to taste and judge. Now, it was time for me to wipe my sticky face and fingers, open my laptop and reveal the labels on the tubs. One ice cream had stood out as too sweet and too strongly flavoured with an oddly woody vanilla taste that reminded me of an over-oaked chardonnay. I gave it a middling star rating accordingly, but when I checked which brand it was, I was surprised to discover it was a Häagen-Dazs tub – the very ice cream which had come top in my last tasting of posh vanilla ice cream two years ago. How could this be? Was the sugar buzz from tasting 13 ice creams addling my brain, or had its recipe changed? Happily, I still have my spreadsheet of data from 2023 (in which I record the prices, volumes, sugar content and more for each product – just some of the number crunching I do for all of my taste tests). I checked this year's Häagen-Dazs label against my notes, and sure enough, the ingredients had changed. While the price of the 400g tub has risen less than five per cent (roughly in line with inflation, but below the higher rate of food inflation) savings have been made elsewhere, it seems. The sugar content has gone up from 18.8g to 19.9g per 100g – enough to tip it from 'on the sweet side' (as I judged it to be in 2023) to cloying. Perhaps it's there to make up for the new ingredient – water – now listed alongside cream and condensed skimmed milk, sugar and egg yolk. More significantly, the vanilla extract used in the 2023 ice cream has been replaced with 'natural vanilla flavouring'. By law this must be made from 95 per cent vanilla, with the additional 5 per cent coming from natural sources (although these may be so highly refined they are unrecognisable from the original). The purpose of these extras (according to Neroliane, a French company that creates flavourings for the food industry), is to 'convey fresher, spicy, biscuity, buttery or even milky notes to the original vanilla.' Or, in the case of my Häagen-Dazs spoonful, woody notes. It's not a successful addition, and it's hard not to conclude that it's been made to cover up a switch to a lower quality vanilla. Talking of money saving, a favourite method of some manufacturers is to whip as much air into their ice cream as possible, so they need less of the mixture to fill a tub. This is called 'overrun' in the trade, and in this area Häagen-Dazs (which was approached for a comment) actually comes out shining, with the lowest overrun I've come across. Those who add the most air usually have to add emulsifiers – generally mono- and di-glycerides of fatty acids – to stop the mixture splitting. This puts the ice cream in the ultra-processed food (UPF) category, and also makes for an unpleasantly foamy consistency as it melts. In order to estimate how much of your tub is air, I've calculated the difference between the weight of the ice cream and the volume as a percentage (a high percentage signals more air in the mixture). This isn't a perfect equation but it's a decent approximation, and it allows you to understand where you're spending money on real ingredients – and where it's just all hot (or cold) air. Skip to: How we tasted All the ice cream was given time to soften slightly in the fridge. A scoop was taken from each tub and placed in a glass bowl identified with a letter A to M. I tasted all the ice creams 'blind'. In order to work out the weight of the product and its overrun (the amount of air added to the ice cream), I placed any that did not declare a weight on accurate professional digital scales, subtracting the weight of the tub (these products I have marked with an 'approx' figure). The taste test
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Prices on thousands of grocery items to rise despite tariff break, says Loblaw
Relaxed tariff rules are easing some concerns about prices, but consumers should still expect to pay more for food, says Loblaw Cos. Ltd. Last month, the Canadian government announced a six-month tariff reprieve for items used in food and beverage processing, manufacturing and packaging. Loblaw said the policy and a stabilized loonie are helping to reduce the risk of a sharp spike in food prices, but thousands of items are still expected to cost more. 'Tariffs remain on food products imported from the U.S. like produce, rice, pasta, dairy and coffee, as well as health and wellness products including soap, shampoo and cosmetics,' the company said in a recent Food Inflation Report. 'In a conventional grocery store, there can be upwards of 80,000 items, and consumers can expect tariff-related increases on approximately 6,000, about half of which are food.' The grocery chain earlier this month also warned that food prices could surge as pre-tariff inventory runs out, and it has added a 'T' symbol to products affected by tariffs. Loblaw said it and other grocers are looking at sourcing tariff-vulnerable items from other countries to mitigate price impacts. Grocery price increases outpace overall inflation Egg prices fall to $5 a dozen in the U.S. Food inflation reached 3.8 per cent in April, surpassing the overall consumer price index of 1.7 per cent, according to Statistics Canada data. • Email: bcousins@
