Swedish food prices remained relatively stable over the summer – but are now starting to rise again. According to Matpriskollen’s survey, one in three items in the larger chains went up in price in October – and ICA raised its prices the most.
– A lot of prices are going up now, Matpriskollen, (Food price watch) founder Ulf Mazur told state-funded broadcaster SVT.
Of the 43,000 products surveyed, about a third were more expensive in October than in September. Mazur says this is partly due to poor harvests, which have affected the prices of products such as juice and olive oil.
In addition, the world market price for cocoa has risen sharply – something that will soon be felt on Swedish store shelves.
Differences between stores
He also points out that nordic dairy giant Arla announced this summer that it had reduced the price of a number of products by about 10 percent – but that these products have now become more expensive again. As for the supermarket chains, Coop increased its prices by an average of 0.2 percent in October, Hemköp by 0.1 percent, while Willys and Citygross kept their prices unchanged.
– Ica increased the most, by 0.4 percent. Ica Maxi is holding back and wants to compete with the discount chains, but Ica stores have very different prices. Many Maxi stores are lowering their prices, but many other Ica stores are raising their prices, says Mazur.
Currently, the annual increase in food prices is 6.1 percent, but Mazur still hopes that food inflation will eventually come down to the Central Bank’s target of two percent.
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