Grocery price cuts on the way

Supermarket chains have for a change started receiving price lists with reductions for the first time in months, ranging from 5% to 18%.

Of course, despite this positive development, prices will still be at high levels, as since last year the same products have already risen in price by 25% to 35%. The reductions concern both branded and private label products, while these are commodities whose raw ingredients are basically imported.

Kathimerini understands the products in which price reductions are expected in the coming period are sunflower oil and corn oil – 18% and 8% respectively. They mainly concern reductions from suppliers of private label products, which will also offer 8% cuts on paper products too. 

Regarding branded products, price lists have been sent with reductions on imported cheese, mainly yellow cheeses such as Gouda and Edam, as well as white cheeses from imported cow’s milk, with the price reduction in both cases reaching 15%. Price reductions of 15% are included in the price lists for imported butter, as well as for pork of Dutch origin, with the price reduction in the latter case being of the order of 5%.

According to market analysts, the decrease in prices of imported dairy and cheese products is mainly linked to increased production of cow’s milk in Central Europe, which in turn has led to increased production of dairy and cheese products and the buildup of stocks.

The existence of new price lists with price reductions was also mentioned on Monday by Development Minister Adonis Georgiadis on Skai TV: “Last week, for the first time since the war [in Ukraine], some food industries sent supermarkets price lists with reductions. Not only did they cancel the increases they had announced, but they also made reductions,” he said. He is expected to present more data on Wednesday at a press conference.

He knows of course that the price lists with reductions in no way mean that inflation will disappear overnight.