This is what groceries will cost you per month in 2021

This is what groceries will cost you per month in 2021

Do you want to know which prices increased and decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic? 

Groceries 2021
Source: Pixabay

The Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity Group is a Civil Society initiative (PMBEJD) founded in July 2018. 

This initiative focuses on issues of economic justice, the low-wage regime, and the increasing household affordability and food price crisis.

The PMBEJD group has published the latest Household Affordability Index, which includes food prices for food items across South Africa and specifically in Johannesburg. 

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When the prices of core foods increase, there is less money to secure other important, mostly nutritionally-rich foods, which are essential for health and well-being and strong immune systems.

The PMBEJD group found that the cost of the average household food basket decreased by R50.03 (-1,2%) in January 2021. The average household food basket will now cost a household R4,001.17 in February 2021. 

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Food prices are tracked directly by data collectors off the shelves of 44 supermarkets and 30 butcheries that target the low-income market and which women identified as those they shop at in the areas where they live. 

There are 44 foods in the Household Food Basket. Oranges and sugar beans saw a price hike (24% and 35%), while cabbage has become more affordable (dropping -17%). 

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25 of the 44 food items tracked by the PMBEJD in the last six months saw price increases, 15 prices decreases, and four remained steady. 

Groceries one
Source: The Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity Group
Groceries two
Source: The Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity Group
Groceries three
Source: The Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity Group

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Image credits: Pixabay + The Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity Group 

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