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According to the weekly essential products price index from Stats SA, consumers have been paying more for eggs, milk and cheese than they were a month ago, but less for bread, mealie-meal and chicken.
Stats SA chief director of price statistics Patrick Kelly said: “Milk, eggs and cheese products showed price increases of 0,2% in the last week of April and 2,8% over the month,” IOL reported.
He said the large increase in the monthly report was due to the price of eggs increasing by 19,8%, almost all in the first week. Cheese spread went up 6,8%.
The price for cheddar cheese increased by 3,9% in the last week but decreased by 0,8% over April.
Staples such as bread and cereal decreased by 0,6%, while rice decreased by 4% in the last week of the month to show a -0,5% change.
“South Africa’s main staple, mealie-meal, ended the month with prices 0,1% lower than the end of March,” said Kelly.
The price for meat products decreased by 1%. Kelly said the reason for this was a substantial variation between different meat products, with beef generally increasing and chicken and pork decreasing.
Stats SA also released findings on the impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on employment, income and hunger.
With 2,688 respondents, 60,2% said they were employed on a permanent basis during the national lockdown, 5,2% said their business had closed down, less than 2% lost their job and 4% were not working or seeking employment.
The study also found that 38,6% of respondents were spending less per week during the lockdown compared to before it.
Since the start of the lockdown, the proportion of respondents who reported experiencing hunger increased from 4,3% to 7,0%.
About 67% of respondents said they were more concerned about the potential long-term impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on their financial situation.
(Compiled by Sandisiwe Mbhele)
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