Businesses are trying to stabilize the prices of products in the market while at the same time trying to compensate for the losses of the previous months due to the large increases in fuel and electricity.
At Basic Consumer Goods Observatorypublished on Wednesday by the Consumer Protection Service of the Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry, fluctuations are observed in relation to December 2022 while noteworthy are the large increases in specific products in relation to January 2022, a that is, time before.
As a general comment on the situation prevailing in the market, Mrs. Aliki Iordanou, Coordinator of the Competition Branch of the Consumer Service, told Brief: “It is trying to stabilize the market. Businesses are trying to compensate for the losses of the previous months. If fuel prices remain stable and grain prices do not increase, it is expected that prices will at least be contained. It is not possible to suddenly see large reductions. The companies must compensate for the losses from the large increases in electricity and fuel that we had in the last year, while now we also have the ATA which increases the cost of businesses. The increases had started with the opening of the market after covid restrictions. The market derailed after and with the war in Ukraine and continues to be high in some categories.”
In the Consumer Staples Watch for January 2023, compared to December 2022, we see that in most categories the prices remain stable with small fluctuations. However, some categories of basic goods show large increases.
For example, a large increase was recorded in frozen fish and amounts to 31.4%. In frozen molluscs and whole fish the increase reaches 5.6% and in frozen meat 4.2%. Regarding the frozen products, Mrs. Iordanou noted that these are imported products and not all products are subject to increases. Consumers can search for products at lower prices. As Ms. Iordanou notes, when the price of some products that are very important in the consumer's basket in Cyprus increases, then other products of the same category are dragged along with them and their prices increase.
Regarding the molluscs and other products consumed on the approaching Clean Monday, Ms. Iordanou pointed out to us that thePrice Watch for the Lenten basket will be published next week.
Increases in flour and pasta
In flourin January the increase is 6.4%, but as Ms. Iordanous notes, the increase in flour is due to the fact that in December, due to the holidays, there were many offers in the supermarkets. However, a reduction in flour prices is not expected. In general, however, the prices of flour and pasta are much higher compared to January 2022. We detect, for example, an increase of up to 32% in specific flour, while in a specific pasta product the increase within one year reaches 34.7%.
Large increases in oils
It is known that mainly cooking oils have seen a large price increase. Even now in January, the price of a certain cooking oil has increased by 47.2% within a month. This particular oil shows an increase of 84% within a year. The rest of the oils present in the Observatory are also quite high.
Mrs. Iordanou noted that the increase shown in cooking oils, mainly, is due to a specific 5 liter oil, which is very widely consumed and drags other similar products along.
The increases in one year< /strong>
Compared to January 2022, prices in many categories remain high.
As an example, we mention some products. The increases concern specific products:
- Sugar has increased by 70.6%
- Yellow cheeses have an increase of up to 30.8% while a specific slice has increased by 62.5%< /li>
- The increase in oils as we mentioned above reaches up to 84%
- in fresh meat we see 18% in pork loin, up to 40% increase in minced meat while in rabbit the increase reaches up to 99%.
- Up to 34% increase in rice
- Up to 36.4% increase in yogurt
- Up to 30% increase in frozen chicken nuggets
- Up to 57% frozen fish
- Up to 36.4% increase in lentils
- Up to 17.2% increase in milk
- Up to 32.7 % increase in flour
- Up to 34.7% increase in pasta
- Up to 21.2% increase in puff pastry
- Significant increases are also observed in various chocolates and cookies
< li>Infant milk increased about 15%
An application is coming to find the cheapest products in supermarkets
As Brief wrote again, in the summer the application is expected to work, which will essentially work as a… live ”Consumer Basic Goods Price Observatory” in which dailyprices will be updated for the goods that consumers buy the most in Cyprus.
The specific application, which is expected to be ready in June, will be based on the page www.e-katanalotis.gov.gr which has been in operation for about three years in Greece with great success.
As we see for example in e-katanalotis , you select the category ''Food'' and the Subcategory ''Yogurts'' and you see for specific yogurts the price per supermarket. So you can find which supermarket has the yogurt you are buying at a cheaper price. It will be a very important tool for all consumers.
January 2023 Observatory 315.13 KB
Price variation by product 552.82 KB
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