Alert for food shopping
To the effects of the energy crisis of the last years which brought the price explosion in a series of foods, the consequences of the climate crisis have now been added, as reflected in the categories related to agricultural products, which are now leading the race for price appreciation.
Indicative are the data of ELSTAT, according to which in December 2023, prices in the "Food and non-alcoholic beverages" category increased within a year by 8.9%. The champion of price increases is olive oil, with its price jumping by 58.5% within a year, while double-digit increases are also recorded in fruits and vegetables - by 15% and 14% respectively - as well as in mineral water-soft drinks-juices fruit by 12.6%. Fish by 8.4%, meat by 6.5% and sweets - ice cream by 7.7% also recorded significant price increases.
Market executives in their estimates regarding the course of food prices in 2024 noted that consumers are expected to see on the shelves fewer and lower-intensity price increases compared to the previous year, but not a de-escalation of prices to pre-energy crisis levels. The increases observed in the price lists of the suppliers that reach the organized retail trade are less and have been, as they note, constantly decreasing in recent months, while the picture in food inflation appears - at least compared to the first months of the previous year - improved.
At the same time, however, climate change now plays a particularly important role in the formation of prices at an international level, while especially in the categories of agricultural products, the factors that influence their course are volatile and often unpredictable. A typical example is olive oil. the price of which began to rise after the droughts that affected the countries that are the major producers of the product and continues to this day in an upward trend.
At the same time, however, the issue of the so-called "inflation of greed" is entering the discussion more and more recently, regarding whether, that is, in several cases, the constant appreciations are always justified. The new anti-punctuation measures announced by the government this week also focus on preventing unjustified price increases, leaving open the possibility of new interventions if necessary.
