The South African Competition Commission has released its latest report on food prices during the period of national home quarantine in South Africa. The report shows that the prices of food and general merchandise in South Africa have soared recently.
In addition to law enforcement actions against price fraud, the South African Competition Commission also extensively monitors food prices upstream and downstream. Data showed that the novel coronavirus pneumonia had some short-term pricing effects on the wholesale food sector, but then the price fell. Food prices are mainly in retail.
The South African Competition Commission found that due to the epidemic situation, food retailers have recently made more profits than before. After the wholesale food prices fell, retail prices fell very slowly. At present, the prices of agricultural products in different parts of South Africa vary greatly. The prices in coastal markets are generally higher than those in inland markets.
According to the South African Competition Commission, the gap between food production costs (wholesale food prices) and sales prices is too large, which has exceeded the actual intermediate logistics and warehousing costs. Whether the gap is due to the lack of liquidity of related commodities or the manipulation of some markets remains to be investigated.