{
  "query": {
    "country": "ZA",
    "item": "milk"
  },
  "status": "ok",
  "price": {
    "currency": "ZAR",
    "unit": "per 1 litre",
    "value": 20.46,
    "measure": "average",
    "median": null,
    "typical_low": null,
    "typical_high": null,
    "min": null,
    "max": null
  },
  "sample_size": null,
  "period": {
    "from": "2026-09-01",
    "to": "2026-09-30"
  },
  "confidence": "high",
  "price_type": "official_statistic",
  "statistic": {
    "measure": "average",
    "reference_period": "2026-09"
  },
  "as_of": "2026-10-30T13:07:14.768Z",
  "source": {
    "id": "za-statssa-groceries",
    "name": "Consumer Price Index (P0141): CPI average prices, all urban areas, Stats SA",
    "publisher": "Statistics South Africa (Stats SA)",
    "licence": "Stats SA copyright with a free-use permission (not an open licence): \"Users may apply the information as they wish, provided that they acknowledge Stats SA as the source of the basic data wherever they process, apply, utilise, publish or distribute the data; and also that they specify that the relevant application and analysis (where applicable) result from their own processing of the data.\" (P0141 Consumer Price Index, August 2026, General information). Not cleared for paid use: served free.",
    "licence_url": "https://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0141/P0141August2026.pdf",
    "attribution": "Source: Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), Consumer Price Index P0141, CPI average prices. The figures are Stats SA's published averages; selection of items and the changes calculated from them are the result of ProofPrice's own processing of the data.",
    "url": "https://www.statssa.gov.za/?page_id=1854&PPN=P0141"
  },
  "method": "Stats SA publishes, with its monthly Consumer Price Index release, the national average retail price in rand of about 190 everyday goods in stated pack sizes, for all urban areas. ProofPrice collects the newest file once a day and returns the published average for the latest month unchanged, with the previous month and the same month a year earlier, and the changes we calculate from them. No range is calculated: Stats SA gives one average and no count of prices behind it. These are averages compiled for price statistics, not receipts.",
  "method_url": "https://proofprice.com/method",
  "summary": "In urban South Africa the average retail price of \"Full cream milk - fresh, 1 Litre\" was R20.46 in September 2026 (Stats SA consumer price index average prices, not receipts). That is 1.6% higher than a year earlier (R20.14 in September 2025). Official average published by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) for 2026-09.",
  "notice": "Information, not a valuation or offer. Ranges describe past recorded prices.",
  "extra": {
    "country_name": "South Africa",
    "item": {
      "code": "01141101_1litre",
      "definition": "Full cream milk - fresh, 1 Litre",
      "unit": "per 1 litre",
      "asked_for": "milk"
    },
    "what_this_is": "Monthly average retail price published by Stats SA with its consumer price index (all urban areas). Not a receipt and not the price at any one shop.",
    "reference_month": "2026-09",
    "reference_month_label": "September 2026",
    "change_on_year_earlier": {
      "reference_month": "2025-09",
      "value": 20.14,
      "change_percent": 1.6,
      "change_amount": 0.32
    },
    "change_on_previous_month": {
      "reference_month": "2026-08",
      "value": 20.54,
      "change_percent": -0.4,
      "change_amount": -0.08
    },
    "other_definitions": [
      {
        "item": "2 litre milk",
        "definition": "Full cream milk - fresh, 2 Litre",
        "unit": "per 2 litre"
      },
      {
        "item": "longlife milk",
        "definition": "Full cream milk - longlife, 1 Litre",
        "unit": "per 1 litre"
      },
      {
        "item": "low fat milk",
        "definition": "Low fat milk - fresh, 1 Litre",
        "unit": "per 1 litre"
      },
      {
        "item": "powdered milk",
        "definition": "Powdered milk, 400 Gram",
        "unit": "per 400 gram"
      }
    ],
    "library_snapshot_date": "2026-09-01",
    "dataset": {
      "title": "Consumer Price Index P0141: CPI average prices, all urban",
      "url": "https://www.statssa.gov.za/?page_id=1854&PPN=P0141"
    }
  },
  "answer_id": "ans_c44e3a48f077fe040d2c",
  "method_version": "1",
  "retrieved_at": "2026-10-30T13:07:14.768Z",
  "evidence": {
    "type": "official_statistic",
    "label": "Official published average",
    "meaning": "One average or median that a statistics office or regulator publishes for a reference period: it describes a group, not a distribution, and says nothing about any single price."
  },
  "reliability": "official_median_no_count",
  "data_as_of": "2026-09-30",
  "data_age_days": 30,
  "suggestions": [
    "This is one published figure (an average, median, index or listed price) with no record count: use it as a reference point, not as a range of what individuals paid.",
    "For a decision on a specific job or purchase, ask for an itemised quote."
  ]
}