# FNB agricultural economist, Paul Makube, says meat was the biggest driver of food inflation after surging to a 25-month high of 6.6-percent year-on-year and up by 2.2-percent month-on-month in June. He says the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak created a short supply crunch due to the inability to slaughter livestock, mainly cattle, while the earlier ban on Brazilian chicken imports due to the bird flu outbreak caused panic in the market. Makube says the disease-induced supply constraints underpinned the upswing in meat prices in the past three months.
FNB agricultural economist says FMD and Brazilian chicken import ban underpinned the upswing in meat prices