Georgiadis – All countries are facing a wave of price increases – It will be temporary

The government is on alert, in the face of a possible wave of price increases in commodities, which will set fire to the daily budget of households.

Rising prices of cereals, agricultural products, raw materials, packaging materials, but also the surge in energy costs and transportation, bring consumers faced with price increases in basic foodstuffs.

The rally that has been recorded worldwide for a few months now seems to have reached Greece as well, with the first price increases being recorded in both food and other consumer items.

This phenomenon is expected to intensify in the next period, with market participants admitting that soon the price increases will be reflected on the shelves of supermarkets.

The government staff is preparing special interventions, in order to stop the increases, with the relevant announcements not being excluded to be included in the speech of the prime minister at the Thessaloniki International Fair.

Georgiadis: All countries are facing a wave of price hikes

The Minister of Development, Adonis Georgiadis, advised calmness, speaking to ERT1, against the expected wave of price increases.

“Increases will come as soon as there is a global increase in all prices, from fares to raw materials. It is a phenomenon faced by all countries and especially advanced countries, and will obviously affect Greece as well. The prevailing view is that it will not be permanent, it will have some temporary features that have to do with the normalization of the market after quarantine. We are monitoring it,” said the minister and referred to announcements that will be made at the TIF, and in particular some measures for vulnerable groups and in some areas in which the state can act.

“The government will consider various measures carefully. “There are no easy solutions,” he said. He augured the announcement tomorrow of the results of ELSTAT for the second quarter, which he estimated will be “extremely good”. “Tourism made an amazing performance, primary production, processing, exports in the quarter reached a record in August. “he economy is doing very well and will do much better,” said Mr. Georgiadis.

Increased cost of raw materials

According to the president of the Piraeus Chamber of Commerce & Industry Vassilis Korkidis, “the increases in international prices of raw materials that inevitably passed and the threshold of the Greek market are troubling producers, importers, and traders.

The fears of the previous period for a rapid rise in production and transport costs were confirmed, with the first price increases recorded in a wide range of consumer products. The upward trend is even expected to intensify in the next period, as significant price increases have already been launched that are already reflected on the shelves, affecting consumers “.

“The price hikes are mainly due to the cost of raw materials, due to the reduced efficiency in the major producing countries, the increase in demand from Asia and the shrinking of stocks worldwide. An important factor is of course the annual increase of container transport fares from 350% to 485%.

“According to the Market Research Office IRI and the data of ELSTAT, in the prices of plant and animal production and in general in 10 categories of food, was recorded in August 2021 compared to the corresponding of 2020, an increase of 4.6%”, emphasizes Mr. Korkidis.

According to the same announcement, first in the list of price increases are the “imported codes” of industrial items with 9.3%. We have large increases in the price of gas 80%, oil 40%, electricity 30%, raw materials even coffee 60%, followed by domestic products and mainly food, such as lamb and goat 13%, fruit and vegetables 8 %, fresh fish 7%, fruit 5%, cheese and oil 3%.