Your Christmas meal might be a bit more expensive this year. The demand for meat is currently beyond the country’s livestock slaughter rate, causing prices to increase.
Meat inflation traditionally increases year on year. In September 2020, it increased 4.4% and is likely to continue on that trajectory, according to Stats SA.
The Agricultural Business Chamber adds that in 2019, meat price inflation was much lower due to a ban on red meat exports following a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak at the beginning of the year. They predicted that meat price inflation would see a “mild uptick” in 2020 from the base effect of 2019.
FNB’s senior agriculture economist Paul Makube told BusinessTech that the price of chicken and pork will also increase this year, due to higher feeding costs for both animals, as well as increased and resilient demand for pork-based products. Lamb and mutton will also see higher prices this festive season.
A kilogram of A-grade meat may leave you around R50 cheaper this festive season, which is over 15% more expensive than it was in 2019, reports BusinessTech. This is reportedly the first time this type of meat has hit the R50 per kilogram mark.
“We expect prices to retain the sideways trend but with further upside in the short term on improved seasonal demand. The post-Covid-19 long term demand outlook, however, remains a concern given the high prospects of the weak economy and subsequent contraction of job numbers,” Makube told BusinessTech.
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