The Intersection Of Cost-Of-Living Pressures and South African Competition Law

In this article for African Antitrust, author Michael Williams discusses the South African Competition Commission’s recent Cost-of-Living Report (“COL Report”), released on 4 September 2025. The Report provides a structured, data-driven assessment of the affordability challenges facing households, particularly those on low incomes most affected by high inflation. It builds on the government’s strategic priority of addressing the rising cost of living and situates the analysis against South Africa’s entrenched economic difficulties, including persistent energy crises, high fuel and food costs, rising interest rates, and stagnant household income growth. The Report is intended as both a diagnostic tool and a policy resource to help stakeholders better understand how inflation impacts living standards across society.

The COL Report evolves from the Commission’s earlier Essential Food Price Monitoring program, broadening its focus to include not only staple foods but also critical non-food essentials such as electricity, housing, transport, healthcare, education, and internet costs. By integrating these categories, the Commission captures the real burden on households and highlights inequalities in consumption and affordability. According to James Hodge, the Commission’s chief economist, this wider lens provides crucial insights into the pressures faced by different socio-economic groups, ensuring that price transmission and inflationary stickiness are better understood. Through tracking both food and non-food costs, the Commission identifies where prices remain elevated despite reductions in input costs, exposing areas where margins expand along the value chain.

While the COL Report stops short of declaring instances of anticompetitive conduct, its implications for competition oversight are significant. By using the Consumer International Early-Warning System and setting analytical baselines, the Report strengthens monitoring of price transmission across value chains and supports prioritization of sectors where affordability constraints may persist due to structural or policy-related factors. Importantly, the Report distinguishes between margin analysis and findings of collusion, framing its work as a monitoring tool rather than enforcement action. Nonetheless, its documentation of patterns—such as retail stickiness in eggs, maize meal, sunflower oil, and rising producer margins in brown bread—provides valuable intelligence for competition authorities…

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