High prices still rock Greek consumers: Tricks with prices and “tags”

Inflation in food and basic daily need consumer items , such as cleaners, detergents and personal hygiene items, is proving to be too tough to “die”, while at the same time it seems that the “tags” of the reductions entered some categories of products that in October appreciated, before reducing the price on some codes in November.

Of the 60 surveyed goods contained in the “basket” of the Hellenic Statistical Authority in the “Food and non-alcoholic beverages” group, only 14 saw price reductions, but without making a difference. This is because overall food inflation moved upward month-on-month with an increase of 1.7%, “running” in October with an almost double-digit rate of increase to 9.9% from 9.4% in September.

In food, the major protagonists in the price increases in October compared to September remained the categories: olive oil and fruit, followed by cocoa and chocolate powder, milk, artificial sweeteners, eggs, margarine and cheeses.

Huge differences

While monthly increases in food and beverage goods reached up to 14.05% (incl. olive oil), declines were 7 times lower in percentage terms, at best reaching 1.85% (in chips), starting from 0.07% in yogurt and 0.08% in pasta.

In more detail, apart from olive oil and fresh fruit (8.05%), prices from month to month increased in fresh milk (4.78%), eggs (4.11%), cheeses (2.31 %), in fish and seafood based preparations (5.38%), in margarine and other vegetable fats (2.47%), in coffee (1.9%), in soft drinks (1.74%) and fruit juices (1.6%).

The “tags”

For all the above categories – excluding olive oil and fruit – consumers saw a few days ago the first “tags” of price reductions, with the most typical case of fresh milk.

It should be noted, however, that in order for the “tag” to be included in a product, a reduction of at least 5% and at least for a six-month period is a necessary condition.

Regarding the products participating in the “permanent price reduction”, according to the Minister of Development, Kostas Skrekas, they have exceeded 740 products from 63 companies and in 50 different categories.

“Our goal is to reach 1,000 different products. We encourage consumers to take advantage of the household basket and the permanent price reduction initiative, because it stimulates competition and drives prices down,” the minister underlined.

The results of the measure will begin to be seen from next month and the government’s big bet is to be able to overturn the numbers of ELSTAT, as the new food price hikes in October stopped the downward trend of the consumer price index. In October it stood at 3.4% from 1.6% in September.

How much the prices of cleaning products and personal hygiene items have increased

But it’s not just food and drinks that saw price hikes in October, with some entering the “permanent price reduction” measure this month. The same happened for the basic consumer goods of daily need.

So, in cleaning and home maintenance items such as bleach, laundry detergent (hand and machine), dish detergent (hand and machine), fabric softener, liquid window cleaner, toilet cleaner, etc. ., as well as in other household items, e.g. kitchen paper, paper towels, aluminum foil, garbage bags, etc., prices on a monthly basis, i.e. comparing the prices of October with those of September, increased by 1.13% and 1.4% respectively.

Annually, that is, in relation to October 2022, the prices of cleaning and home maintenance items are higher by 4.64%, while the prices of other household items remain stable.

In personal hygiene items (toilet paper, baby diapers, napkins, toothpaste, soaps, shampoo, shaving foam, shower gel, etc.) within a month, from September to October, prices increased by 1.5%, while compared to last year they are up by 3.2%.