Pricele #36: Coca-Cola (330ml can) in South Africa 🇿🇦
The puzzle for 5 August 2026 asked what a 330ml can of Coca-Cola costs in South Africa. Here is the answer and the context behind it.
The answer
Coca-Cola (330ml can) · South Africa
$0.81
15 ZAR
About 11 minutes of the average local wage buys a 330ml can of Coca-Cola.
Cheaper than 75% of the 33 countries in the game.
Source: Burger Parity, 2026.
About coca-cola
Coca-Cola is sold in more countries than almost any other branded product, which makes it a useful yardstick, though a noisy one. The same can costs very different amounts in a supermarket, a corner shop and a hotel minibar, and Coca-Cola deliberately prices to the local market rather than converting a single global price.
Where South Africa sits
Of the 33 countries priced for coca-cola, South Africa ranks #25 from the top at $0.81, 41% below the median of $1.37.
South Africa has low prices in dollar terms but the widest gap in the game between price and affordability: measured in work time at the average wage, its groceries cost far more than the dollar figures suggest. Fuel is regulated and adjusted monthly by the government. VAT is 15% with a defined basket of basic foods zero-rated, a list that is explicitly a poverty measure and has been publicly debated and extended over the years. South Africa is the strongest argument in this dataset for not reading dollar prices as a cost of living: on the dollar column it looks affordable, and on the work-time column it is the hardest country in the table.
| Nearby on the coca-cola table | USD | Local | Work time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | $0.71 | 750 ARS | 12 min |
| Saudi Arabia | $0.80 | 3 SAR | 4 min |
| South Africa | $0.81 | 15 ZAR | 11 min |
| India | $0.82 | 70 INR | 20 min |
| United Arab Emirates | $0.95 | 3.5 AED | 4 min |
What else costs what in South Africa
| Item | USD | Local | Work time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Big Mac | $3.36 | 54.9 ZAR | 45 min |
| Cappuccino | $2.31 | 38.24 ZAR | 31 min |
| Milk (1 litre) | $1.20 | 19.86 ZAR | 16 min |
| Eggs (dozen) | $2.50 | 41.38 ZAR | 33 min |
| Apples (1 kg) | $1.80 | 29.79 ZAR | 24 min |
| Gasoline (1 litre) | $1.42 | 23.5 ZAR | 19 min |
| Diesel (1 litre) | $1.78 | 28.89 ZAR | 24 min |
| Electricity (100 kWh) | $27.80 | 452.4 ZAR | 6.2 h |
| Cigarettes (20-pack) | $2.62 | 47.7 ZAR | 35 min |
| Beer (330ml) | $0.54 | 9.9 ZAR | 7 min |
| Spirits (750ml bottle) | $9.32 | 170 ZAR | 2.1 h |
| Vape e-liquid (1 ml) | $1.74 | 31.66 ZAR | 23 min |
| Mobile data (1 GB) | $1.81 | — | 24 min |
| A day's healthy diet | $1.74 | 31.14 ZAR | 23 min |
Go deeper
See the full table for coca-cola in every country or everything priced in South Africa.