Food prices have a weight of almost 26 per cent in the CPIX basket, although this proportion is much higher at around 51 per cent in the consumption basket of the lowest category of income earners. As is the case with oil prices, there is an international dimension to the increase in food prices. Higher food inflation is an international phenomenon.
This is partly weather induced, but perhaps more significantly, the increased diversion of maize and sugar to biofuels production has resulted in significant price increases in the international markets.