Costs of beef, water and electricity push up consumer inflation
This was announced in Statistics South Africa's (Stats SA) CPI update for July released on Tuesday morning. Ahead of the release, economists widely expected inflation to rise sharply from 3% year-on-year to 3.7% in July.
'Annual consumer price inflation was 3.5% in July 2025, up from 3.0% in June 2025. The CPI increased by 0.9% month-on-month in July 2025,' the statistical release said.
Fuel prices increased by 2.6% in July after four months of decline, lifting the annual rate for fuel from -11.2% in June to -5.5% in July.
According to the statistical release, the main contributors to the 3.5% annual inflation rate were food and non-alcoholic beverages, which were at 5.7% and contributed a 1.0 percentage point.
Housing and utilities, which were at 4.3%, also contributed a 1.0 percentage point. In July, the annual inflation rate for goods was 3.2%, up from 2.3% in June, while services inflation was at 3.6%, down from 3.7% in June.
Patrick Kelly, chief director of price statistics at Stats SA, said inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages was driven largely by meat and vegetables.
'Meat, specifically beef, continues to be the main driver. Annual price increases for meat accelerated to 10.5% in July, extending a strong upward trend that began in February. On average, beef prices increased by 28.8% over the past 12 months and by 7.6% between June and July.'
He said though higher annual rates were recorded for carrots (up 20.7%), lettuce (up 17.5%) and tomatoes (up 30.7%), the prices for the products dropped in July, signalling an end to the seasonal increase in prices.
'Most items in the other food product groups were more expensive than a year ago,' Kelly said.
Tariffs for water supply increased by 12.1% in 2025, higher than the 2024 rise of 7.5%, the sharpest increase since 2018 when tariffs rose by 12.9%.
Electricity climbed by 10.6% in 2025, lower than the rise in 2024 of 11.5% and the 11.3% tariff increase allowed for by the National Energy Regulator of SA.
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