In February 2026, Johannesburg remains the most expensive city among South Africa’s three major metros for groceries for eight consecutive months.
However, Durban in KwaZulu-Natal has overtaken Cape Town in the Western Cape as the second-most-expensive major metro.
This is according to data from the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity (PMBEJD) group, which tracks the cost of a household food basket across the three major provinces.
The PMBEJD report found that while 14 of the 44 tracked food items became cheaper or saw no increases year-on-year, the other 30 experienced price hikes, with seven items seeing double-digit inflation.
South Africa’s consumer inflation has dipped to 3.5% in January 2026, down from the 3.6% recorded in December.
According to the latest data from Stats SA, the CPI rose to 3.5% in January, driven by stable food inflation and lower fuel prices.
Food inflation—one of the biggest drivers of inflation—remained flat at 4.4% for a third consecutive month.
The annual rate for cereal products slowed significantly in January, declining to 0.6% from 2.1% in December.
White rice recorded a rate of -11.0%, representing an eleventh consecutive month of deflation. Maize meal inflation declined notably from 9.5% in December to 2.6% in January.
The rate for oils & fats softened to 4.0% from 4.6% in December. Olive oil is 7.9% and butter 0.7% cheaper than a year ago.
The milk, other dairy products & eggs category registered -0.5%, higher than December’s -1.1%. Fresh full-cream milk (-1.4%), fresh low-fat milk (-1.6%) and eggs (-7.6%) contributed to the deflationary trend.
Eggs are becoming more affordable. The average price for a tray of six eggs was R22.90 in January, down from R24.51 in January 2025 and well below the peak of R25.85 recorded in December 2023.
However, meat prices continue to bring pressure to the basket, with another month of double-digit increases. Meat prices are rising due to the Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak.
The annual rate for meat accelerated further to 13.5% from December’s 12.6%. This is the highest print for the category since December 2017 (13.9%).
Three beef products recorded the highest annual rates of all 391 products in the CPI basket.
These were beef steak (31.2%), stewing beef (30.3%) and beef mince (28.0%).
More affordable beef products were not immune to sharper price increases, with the rate for beef offal accelerating to 17.2% from 10.5% in December. Pork also rose significantly, to 19.5% from 11.5%.
Most expensive city for groceries
As of February 2026, the average cost of a household food basket in South Africa, comprising 44 essential items that reflect typical purchasing patterns, reached R5,383.81.
This is a 1.3% annual increase of R70.59 compared to February 2025. Month-on-month, however, the basket price decreased by R17.63 compared to January 2026.
However, a breakdown of costs in each city shows that the change in food prices is greater in some areas than others.
In February 2026, the household food basket cost R5,614.44 in Johannesburg, a notable 3.1% increase of R168.37 from the previous year. This is also R98.75 more than the basket price of R5,515.69 in January.
Joburg’s basket price surpassed the national average by R230.63, making Johannesburg the most expensive metro for groceries.
However, Cape Town overtook Durban as the cheapest of the cities for groceries, recording further decreases compared to last month and the year before.
Cape Town’s food basket, recorded at R5,232.82, decreased by R17.93 (0.3%) from R5,250.75 in February 2025.
The city also saw a massive month-on-month decrease of 2.9%, or R156.54, from R5,389.36 in January. This makes it R381.62 less expensive than Johannesburg.
Durban’s food basket decreased by R5.92 (-0.1%) from R5,306.47 in January 2026 to R5,289.44 in February 2026.
However, year-on-year, the Durban household food basket increased by R35.37 (0.7%) from R5,254.06 in February 2025 to R5,289.44 in February 2026.
Basket comparison February 2026
