Price of staple foods to increase in September
Families will have to fork out a few extra coins for mahangu, sugar, rice, wheat flour, pasta, yeast and bread products following the announcement by Namib Mills of the price increases, effective 01 September 2021.
The prices for the products will increase as follows: rice (4%), sugar (3%), mahangu (2%), Polana Pasta (6%), Pasta King (2%), pasta home brands (2%), La Vita pasta (2%), Wheat flour (3%), Complete Mix (3%), bread (3%) and yeast (2%).
Namib Mills said orders will be executed at the existing prices up to the close of business on Tuesday, 31 August 2021, while stocks last.
The company’s financial manager, ST Ackermann said the increases were partly necessitated by the recent increases in the price increases in fuel, electricity and inflation.
In terms of wheat, pasta and bread, Ackermann explained the hot and dry weather conditions in large parts of the high protein wheat producing areas resulted in expected wheat yields being 35% below prior year yields and 32% below the 5-year average wheat yield.
“This has resulted in the cost of high protein wheat increasing significantly due to an expected supply shortage. This has led to an increase in the landed cost of raw wheat and all wheat-based products,” Ackermann said.
He further said the increase in ocean freight cost has resulted in significant price increases on commodities that are transported via ocean freight. Namib Mills imports the majority of its wheat, sugar and rice from abroad via ocean freight.
Ackermann said in terms of sugar, the South African sugar industry continues to face serious challenges and in an effort to promote cane farming and business sustainability, the South African Sugar Association (SASA), have announced a 2.4% increase on sugar prices.
