South Africa may be seeing potential increases in the price of sunflower cooking oil.

The Competition Commission says their findings come at a time where South Africans are battling to afford a basic food basket.

The report found that sunflower oil processor prices increased by 72 percent in 2022.

Despite the steep increase, retailers only increased their prices by around 36 percent which is indicative that they too benefited from the increase.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, global cooking oil prices have skyrocketed which also saw the sunflower oil exports from the Black Sea region being affected.