Agriculture
Consumer welfare improves but there’s still less to spend on food─── SABRINA DEAN 11:18 Wed, 24 Aug 2016
Bloemfontein - An agricultural economist has highlighted that consumer trends are shifting and the welfare of the average consumer is also going up.
Dr Kobus Laubscher says the latest Baseline study by the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy has revealed that the percentage of the population earning more than R5000 per month has shifted from 44% in 2009 to 63% in 2015.
“This is all good news because it means there is more money in the hands of the consumer to work with. This improvement in welfare should lead to improved demand.
“However, what is important is that we are eating differently, we are consuming differently. We are giving less out on food and proportionally more on the so-called ‘white goods’.”
Laubscher says unfortunately these stats are not clearly reflected in consumer purchasing power.
He says the reality is that consumers have to spend increasing amounts to supplement poor service delivery, on things like education, security and health and can therefore spend less on agricultural products.
OFM News
Consumer welfare improves but there’s still less to spend on food:
