‘Outrageous!’: Consumers stunned by the price of peanut butter
The cost of peanut butter is causing distress among South African consumers. Here’s what you can expect to pay…
The surging prices of various food items – especially peanut butter – have left many South African consumers struggling to keep up.
PEANUT BUTTER PRICES GIVE CONSUMERS HEART PALPITATIONS
This week, an X user posted a pic of a shelf stocked with Black Cat Peanut Nutter – on “promotion” for R92,99 for 800 grams.
The tweep – @Tsele_MK – used her pic to jokingly illustrate how inflation had affected romances.
She tweeted: “Dear Men. When a woman says she wants a man with money, she doesn’t mean you should have millions. She just means you should be able to buy things without saying ‘ba nyela’”.
No doubt, many South Africans experienced chest pains over the discovery that a bottle of the beloved brand cost almost R100.
@XexeXOM: “Wtf!! Ridiculously expensive”
@WadeLevien: “An 800 gram jar of peanut butter is R93? It seems just recently I was buying it for R55.”
@SonofGobani: “My son better be the next Elon Musk after eating this!”
@Sboshm14: “Wait till the bottle falls on the floor!”
WHO SO EXPENSIVE?
According to Stats SA, the price of peanut butter has increased by 14.0% since February 2023.
It’s not just South Africans experiencing a surge in the item, widely considered a food staple.
According to Ambrosia Organic Farms, multiple factors contribute to the price increase, including:
- Climatic change and crop failures,
- High demand,
- Processing expenses,
- Restricted domestic supply
- High import customs and taxes.
HOW MUCH DO SOUTH AFRICANS SPEND ON GROCERIES?
According to Expatica, a “moderate-cost healthy food basket including staple foods, proteins, fruit, and vegetables” can cost between R3 000 and R4 000 a month.
A BusinessTech report revealed that a “survival basket” of eight groups of products, bread, milk, eggs, rice, cheese, meat, fruits, and vegetables, can cost around R1 500. For a South African with a minimum net wage of R4,353, the price equates to one-third of their salary.
According to the Daily Investor, Saffas spend nearly two-thirds of their disposable income on groceries, retail, travel, and fuel.