Rising fuel and electricity prices and a weaker rand could feed into higher food inflation, but economists expect the uptick to be relatively moderate. Pioneer Foods CEO Tertius Carstens says: "We anticipate more inflation to be evident in the near term - driven by exchange rate movement and the knock-on effect on fuel and most raw material input costs. The main risk for near-term inflation remains the exchange rate." Speaking on the sidelines of the pre-harvest briefing hosted by FNB this week, Jannie de Villiers, CEO of Grain SA, says he does not see prices increasing above current levels but some winter frost could result in a reduced crop, which could result in SA importing a bit more, which would lead to small price hikes. "Grain-mill products, your maize meal, your bread, those things might increase a little bit going into the year ahead." He also says there may be an increase in the price of maize meal. Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of ...
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