A customer carries a sliced loaf of bread inside a Spar Group Ltd. supermarket in the Die Wilgers suburb of Pretoria, South Africa, on Thursday, July 14, 2022. A quarterly index measuring sentiment about the nations expected economic performance fell to -39 in the second quarter, according to data released Wednesday by FirstRand Ltd.s First National Bank, the lowest level since 1985. Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images

JOHANNESBURG, March 28 (Reuters) – South Africa’s Competition Commission is investigating the price of a range of essential food products at retail and wholesale level after finding that consumers have been subjected to “unjustified” and “opportunistic” increases.

Consumer goods producers globally have lifted prices to cope with surging costs for almost all raw materials, energy and packaging after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine compounded pandemic-related supply chain logjams.

These have been passed on to retailers and in turn to consumers, as retailers also grapple with rising costs related to running diesel generators to cope with rolling blackouts in South Africa.

“The Commission remains concerned about food inflation and more specifically whether the prices are justified by increasing costs,” it said on Tuesday.

The Commission found in its latest Essential Food Pricing Monitoring (EFPM) report covering 2021 to 2022 that consumers were subjected to “unjustified” price increases of sunflower oil, white and brown bread, and “opportunistic” price increases in maize meal over a two-year period.

For example, from January 2022 to December 2022, the retail price of white bread rose to 18.62 rand ($1.03) from 15.47 rand, an increase of 20%. Over the same period, the wholesale price went from 11.31 rand to 12.97 rand, a 15% increase, it said.

The findings of the report have also looked at price movements in the poultry value chain and five fruits and vegetables.

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“The food sector remains a priority for the Commission as poor consumers spend a significant portion of their income on essential food items,” it said.

“Therefore, the Commission is investigating the price of a range of essential food products at the retail and wholesale levels.”

The country’s annual food prices rose 13.6%, the highest since April 2009, according to Statistics South Africa. ($1 = 18.1658 rand) (Reporting by Nqobile Dludla, editing by Ed Osmond)