According to experts, this is not going to be a typical Easter holiday, as shoppers will need to dig even deeper into their pockets due to the high cost of food.
Fish, which is considered a commodity during the Easter holiday, is already having consumers scratch their heads at the markets, said Amiela Losper, a trader at Town Centre in Mitchells Plain.
She said a whole yellowtail fish costs R350, snoek is R220, and hake is about R250. She added that "it will be a very expensive Easter as prices have skyrocketed".
Thabile Nkunjana, Agricultural Economist at the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC), said fish prices have been rising, which could be attributed to various factors.
The most eminent one would be the fact that consumers are buying more fish as other animal protein sources like beef, mutton, and poultry have become expensive due to rising inputs in general.
"Due to the fact that fish is a highly delicate commodity that must be kept at specific temperatures before it reaches consumers, the load shedding situation that is now in place is expected to continue to put pressure on fish producer prices, which will later be transferred to consumers," said Nkunjana.
He said the overall food prices are likely to remain high in the near future in South Africa due to challenges with the local supply of basic foods like vegetables and meat, which were major contributors to the food inflation reported in February, as well as commodity prices that have remained high despite slight drops in previous months from the global market.
"High commodity prices, which have been falling for the past few months, are the main cause of high food inflation in South Africa, as has been the case globally. Despite the fact that food inflation has decreased more quickly in some countries than others while remaining stiff in others, it is still generally high around the globe," said Nkunjana.
Another agricultural economist, Wandile Sihlobo, noted that food product prices that increased notably were meat; milk, eggs, and cheese; vegetables; and, sugar, sweets, and desserts.
"These elevated levels of South Africa’s consumer food price inflation are unsurprising and illustrate an environment where there are still tail-end effects of generally higher agricultural commodity prices," said Sihlobo.
Meanwhile, a probe launched by the Competition Commission to investigate alleged irregular price hikes in the fresh produce market formally commenced yesterday.
The purpose of the inquiry is to examine whether any features in the fresh produce value chain impede, restrict, or distort competition in the market.
Zakhele Mthembu, legal researcher at the Free Market Foundation, said the inquiry was supposed to shed light on the nature of the fresh produce market. It will look at the determination of pricing, or how the market structure is the way that it is and should be better understood after the inquiry had been concluded.
"The best protection consumers can be given is the freedom to spend their money where they deem fit. This means breaking down barriers for businesses to operate in a particular market.
“The legislative barriers to entry into the fresh produce market, thanks to the obscene health and safety regulations, for instance, make it more expensive for smaller firms to comply, thus making it harder for new entrants to enter the market," said Mthembu.