Prices bite…

The prices of groceries available on grocery store shelves are on the rise, according to data released by independent bodies and trade-savvy professionals.

The rise in prices of manufactured goods, foodstuffs and raw materials has been happening daily since last September. With the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the phenomenon became more widespread, as a result of which the family budget is reduced every day, and consumers in a number of cases faced the fact that “they are deprived of what is absolutely necessary for their existence.”

The supermarket cart tends to become more “expensive” and the price of gasoline rises day by day to prohibitive levels for the average consumer. But the same thing happens in street markets due to the high cost of products that make up the “consumer basket”.

According to the bulletin published by the Hellenic Statistical Office for April, the main price changes compared to March 2022 and their impact on the overall consumer price index are as follows:

• bread: 5%,
• beef: 6.4%
• pork: 6.5%,
• lamb and goat meat: 20.7%,
• poultry meat: 8%,
• milk: 4%,
• yogurt: 5.5%,
• cheese: 2%,
• eggs: 3.9%,
• oils and fats: 1.1%,
• fresh vegetables: 2.7%,
• frozen vegetables: 4.6%,
• coffee: 2.6%.

If we look at the April 2021 data and compare it to the current year, the result looks stunning. In particular, the price changes that have taken place are as follows:

• Bread and cereals: 10.0%.
• Meat: (overall) 14.1%.
• Fish: (overall) 3.2%.
• Dairy and eggs: 11.7%.
• Oils and fats: 22.0%.
• Fresh fruit: 8.6%.
• Vegetables (in general) 13.8%.
• Sugar-chocolate-sweet-ice cream: 3.4%.
• Other products: 5.6%,
• Coffee-cocoa-tea: 7.1%.
• Mineral water – soft drinks – fruit juices: 3.8%.

Realnews in its Sunday issue published a new list of price increases that we expect in the near future.

It includes:

• vegetable oil 50%,
• office supplies 15%-25%,
• margarine 20%,
• olive oil 20%,
• corn oil 10% -18%,
• croissants 9% -20%,
• cheeses 4% -17%,
• bread 8%,
• mineral water (water) up to 16%,
• filtered coffee 17%,
• Greek coffee 13%,
• ready meals 5%-13%,
• freshly squeezed juices and tea 2.5% -12%,
• frozen potatoes 10%,
• milk 5% -9%,
• cookies 8%,
• detergents 5%-8%,
• yogurt 6% -7%,
• butter 5% -6%,
• salads 6%,
• shampoo 6%,
• wine 4% -6%,
• chickpeas 5%,
• salt 5%,
• canned food 5%,
• cereals 5%,
• eggs on average 4.5%,
• nuts 4.5%,
• cream 1.5%.

The publication, however, draws attention to the fact that these are single price increases and do not apply to all goods included in certain categories. But apart from consumers, companies are “leaning against the wall”, which themselves produce and package products.

Market workers, talking to journalists from the newspaper “Kathimerini”, claim that their suppliers have raised prices by 70%. Michalis Csautos, general manager of ΕΨΑ beverages, says: “Since the beginning of the year, the supplier of glass bottles has raised prices by a total of 70%. For his part, the general manager of 3alfa, Konstantinos Karageorgiou, says: “The increase in raw material prices, which is 70% of the total cost, has led us to increase prices by 6%. And the president of the company “Τρικαλινός” Zafeiris Trikalinos, among other things, emphasizes: “We do not find the types of cardboard boxes that we used in previous years.”

As follows from all of the above, the results of the Hellenic Statistical Office, as well as those of senior executives of companies, describe a “suffocating” situation that is observed both in business and in the “pockets” of consumers.

The state of affairs requires immediate substantial intervention, not fireworks, which are only aimed at strengthening the party mechanisms, which are the government’s only contact with society. A similar conclusion is made by the publication www.zougla.grsummarizing the above.

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