“Unnecessary, duplicative and outrageously expensive” – these were the words used by Pick n Pay CEO Sean Summers to describe the bread composition inspection contract revoked by the Minister of Agriculture on Tuesday. First proposed in 2016, the contract awarded to Leaf Services by the Department of Agriculture meant that Leaf would appoint 13 inspectors to conduct onsite bread composition inspections at a cost of R50m per year. Payment to Leaf Services would have been compulsory for grain producers, millers and retailers, forcing the industry to pay for a service that was previously free, thus raising the price of one of South Africa’s biggest staples. “When applying this to Pick n Pay alone, the inspection methodology proposed by Leaf Services, which included three annual inspections at each of our 920 stores across the country, raised significant concerns. The sampling process would have required duplicate samples from each batch and size of bread, drawn from the point of sale. Given that our batch codes are determined by the day’s production, this methodology would have substantially increased the operational complexity and cost for our business, and that of all other retailers,” explained Summers. Summers went on to say that the contract would have cost Pick n Pay at least R10m and Boxer R15m per year. Since its proposal, the contract has been challenged by the CGCSA, Grain SA, the Chamber of Baking and others, all of which are justifiably relieved at the Minister’s decision.

Comment: A bullet dodged by all stakeholders, but especially the already cash-strapped shopper. And, says Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen, the Department is going to look at ways of ‘trimming the fat’, as it were, in red meat next.

We’re not the biggest fan of price comparisons, tbh, but this one piqued our interest. According to a MyBroadband comparison of 20 popular grocery items between Amazon, Takealot, Checkers and Pick n Pay, the new guy came out on top… or at the bottom in this case. The basket, which included the likes of All Gold Tomato Sauce, BabySoft TP, Tastic Rice, Aromat and Johnson’s Baby Powder, saw Amazon pipping Takealot by a not insignificant R780. Checkers and Pick n Pay came somewhere in between:
Amazon R1,353.43
Checkers R1,638.80
Pick n Pay R1,653.80
Takealot R2,133.00
The main reason for the disparity, according to MyBroadband, is Takealot’s policy of giving its resellers free rein on their selling prices – an example was spotted where a 50ml pack of Vaseline was listed at R120 by an independent reseller, versus the normal retail price of around R13 to R16. Amazon’s policy is to demote listings that are uncompetitive, removing the “Add to Basket” button from the listings.

Comment: For now, Amazon’s range of groceries is far narrower than that offered by our supermarkets. But if it keeps building on it – and there’s no reason to believe it won’t – it will pose a real threat, at least within the delivery space.

Hip hip hooray and happy birthday to Boxer, which is celebrating its 48th year this month. And it is doing so through an array of big deals, bonus reward points and its famous competitions with prizes such as gas cooking kits, baby strollers and ‘Double Your Grant’. Not to be outdone, and on the back of Boxer’s ‘Black Friday’ deals earlier this month, Builders, Game and Makro will be
holding their Halfway Day promotion this weekend, in celebration of the fact that we’re halfway through 2025 (shock, horror). “Game launched Halfway Day four years ago after identifying a cohort of customers who were actively shopping for mid-year deals on electronics and hard goods like appliances,” explains Andrew Stein, Marketing VP for Massmart, but “this year we expect that 75% of Halfway Day customers will shop for grocery essentials.” To this story now, Dis-Chem founder Ivan Saltzman has distributed 217 million shares in the business (worth R6.8bn) to two of his sons. The sons in question do not sit on Dis-Chem’s board, nor do they hold exec positions; however, their new shareholding will likely lead to a board reshuffle.

According to the British Office of National Statistics, UK retailers experienced ‘dismal’ sales in May, with volumes dropping -2.7%, the biggest monthly fall since Dec 2023. Sales of alcohol and tobacco were especially hard hit due to households cutting back, although clothing and household products weren’t going great guns either. According to a chief UK economist, the data is “evidence that the burst of economic growth” in the early part of the year “is over”. Over in the US, retail layoffs at FMCG retailers such as Walmart, Kroger, Albertsons, Amazon Fresh, CVS and Walgreens, among others, surged an alarming +274% in the first half of 2025 due to widespread store closures as a result of constrained consumer spending and macroeconomic uncertainty. Fingers have also been pointed at the streamlining of operations and adoption of AI as a cause. The flip side is that dollar stores like Dollar General and Dollar Tree have opened new locations, once again highlighting the growing importance of discount supers in shoppers’ retail repertoires. And still in the US, jumping onto the on-demand train is popular big-box retailer Costco, which will soon be offering a new ‘Priority Delivery’ option that allows certain items to be ordered and delivered within 30 minutes. It will also be adding ‘No-Rush Delivery’ to its services so shoppers can schedule orders hours or even days in advance. This as Walmart tests its first ‘dark store’ to fulfil online orders in Dallas, Texas, and shares plans to open another in its hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas.

Libstar, manufacturer of deliciousnesses Lancewood, Denny Mushrooms and Cape Herb & Spice, experienced its biggest one-day gain in share price in almost five years last week, following a positive trading update for the 21 weeks to the end of May. The markets were well pleased with its +10.1% growth in revenue, with the ambient products category growing +11.5%, while perishable products grew +8.9%. Portfolio optimisation through the disposal of noncore business is one of the reasons for the positive results, as well as five ‘value-driving initiatives’ which are targeting Libstar’s cost competitiveness, earnings quality and return on invested capital. However, as our favourite market analyst, The Finance Ghost, points out, the update compares 21 weeks to 20 weeks, with the additional week falling at the end of May, i.e. payday week. Official first-half results come will out in mid-September.

Castle Lager and independent retailer Big Save are inviting South Africans to take part in the world’s biggest braai to be held on Heritage Day at Loftus. To launch the campaign, Castle set up an innovative “Grillboard” – a billboard with built-in braai – on Vilakazi Street, Soweto, where passersby could enjoy a free boerewors roll and scan the QR code to sign up for the event. Tickets for the braai can also be bought at this link, and proceeds raised will go towards Big Save and the Imbumba Foundation’s greater mission of attempting to feed 1 million people on World Hunger Day next year. Next, a study conducted by Coca-Cola on its socio-economic impact in Africa has revealed that the Coca-Cola system (a collective name for the Company itself, its bottlers, suppliers, manufacturers, service providers and customers) contributed $10.4bn in value-added economic activity across its value chain in Africa in 2024. And there’s more to come… investments of nearly $1.2bn have been announced for the continent over the next five years. And last but certainly not least, terbufos, the highly toxic commercial fertiliser often used in informal settlements to control rats, and which caused the death of six children in Naledi (Soweto) last year, has officially been banned in South Africa. The ban is effective immediately, meaning that from 11 June it is illegal to import or use terbufos anywhere in the country. The ban will also be accompanied by “enforcement measures, while broader consultations are underway to identify safer alternatives in order to safeguard food security and support farmers,” said Minister in the Presidency, Ms Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, when making the announcement.

Stats SA has released the quarterly employment statistics for Q1/2025. This is an enterprise-based sample survey, collecting info from VAT-registered businesses with an annual turnover of over R330k, as well as info from government entities (i.e. it excludes agriculture, informal businesses and private households). The employment numbers for Q1 were -0.9% (or -95,000 jobs) lower than this time last year. Of the lost jobs, 55k were part-time and 40k were full-time. The sectors with the highest job losses were community services, along with manufacturing and mining, offsetting some gains in business services, trade and construction. For those with jobs, average monthly earnings (AME) ticked up +5.6% YoY, ahead of inflation overall but varying across the sectors, with AME for community services: +10.5% (the highest) and business services +2.5% (the lowest), with trade coming in the middle at +4.8%.

Comment: While formal sector earnings are rising, the broader picture remains fragile. Uneven wage growth across industries and declining employment levels point to underlying structural pressures in the labour market – and that is just scratching the surface.