consumption

Paying dearly: Prices in the supermarket continue to skyrocket

It turns out that the concentration in the economy is not only on the pasta shelves.

Agricultural industries such as meat and fruits and vegetables are also characterized by concentration, so we pay dearly for them, sometimes up to 25% more, only in the last year.

Is the solution on the way or will the reform be dissolved again?

Dr. Hezi Gur Mizrahi

15/02/2022

Tuesday, 15 February 2022, 11:32 Updated: 11:55

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Have you heard in the news that the rise in prices has been halted, but you came to the checkout at the supermarket and felt that you were paying much more for a little less?

You are absolutely right.

This week we went out to conduct a price survey in three baskets and not only where to find the cheapest basket but how much we will pay for it more than we paid last year.

The three main segments of household expenditure on consumer products are: fresh vegetables and fruits, chicken and fresh meat products and a basket of consumer products that includes grocery products, cleaning and grooming

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Let them not work on us with stopping price increases: In the survey, we found a general increase of about 10% in the past year, in almost every component of our shopping cart (Photo: ShutterStock)

Farmers or retailers?

The Ministry of Finance talked about solutions in the field of agriculture, the same famous reform against which farmers came out in a way that created a conflict between them and the marketing chains regarding the classic question "Where is the money" ?.

Among other things, the farmers claimed that the reform would cause the destruction of Israeli agriculture.

The problem is that since then prices have only gone up.

We examined the fluctuations of our shopping basket in vegetable and fruit products and it turns out that today we pay over 17% more in the Rami Levy chain and 15% more in the Shufersal Deal chain - than we paid for the same products a year ago.

We also identified in the sample a general price increase of 5% for the basket of products common in the fresh vegetables and fruits segment, compared to the average prices at which they were sold in March 2021.

Basket of fresh vegetables and fruits (Photo: Daniel Malakhovsky)

It is important to note that in the field of vegetables and fruits there are no companies like Stowitz and Osem that submit new and more expensive price lists to retailers, so we may not have heard of these similar measures taken (supposedly) against other importers and manufacturers.

This is despite the fact that if one separates from the romantic images of Hebrew agriculture in the Land of Israel, one finds that in the vegetable and fruit market there is a clear concentration that controls prices and produce and is expressed in spending about NIS 4,000 per year per household.

Cheap and expensive in vegetables and fruits (Photo: Daniel Malakhovsky)

Cut into the meat

We also looked at the basket of fresh chicken and meat products, a basket with the common products in every shopping basket: squid, schnitzel, minced meat and roast - and here we identified price differences not only between the chains, but also a general phenomenon in which prices jumped this year. 25% and in the Victory network more than 22%.

In the Yohananoff chain, too, the basket jumped by 16, with the general basket jumping by an average of 8% - and the question is why?

Basket of chicken and fresh meat products (Photo: Daniel Malakhovsky)

The Israeli consumer spends about 12% of household expenditures on consumer products and food on meat and poultry products. This is a significant amount that is added to household expenditures and feeds the problem of cost of living. The growers and slaughterhouses blame the retailers, and the retailers present us with completely different data, according to which their purchase prices have indeed skyrocketed in the last year by a significant percentage, here too it is a significant concentration from the creators of the farmers' organizations.

Cheap and expensive in the field of meat (Photo: Daniel Malakhovsky)

About two weeks ago we witnessed what appeared to be an overwhelming victory for the Treasury and the Ministry of Economy, which prevented price increases: manufacturers froze and canceled the increases, but unfortunately, mainly in the media.

In practice, things look different: Tempo (Barkan and Segal Winery), Carmel Winery, Tepperberg Winery, Yachin, Shestovich, Diplomat and others have already raised prices.

A barn that absorbed most of the fire may have canceled or postponed the planned ascent, but in practice the prices that have not yet risen will also rise.

And what about Snow who allegedly announced she would cut the price?

Well - the prices of Snow products are higher than the prices we paid last year.

It is important to note that even beyond these names, even smaller and quieter companies have raised prices.

In examining the weekly basket with a variety of common products - from Persian rice, Thelma mayonnaise, cow chocolate, barn pasta, Brilla spaghetti, Yad Mordechai olive oil, ketchup, pampering shampoo and other products in a basket of 45 items in total, we found that the average basket jumped above 10%.

The weekly food basket: food products, cleaning and care (Photo: Daniel Malakhovsky)

The author, Dr. Hezi Gur Mizrahi, is the director of the Institute for Retail Research

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Tags

• Cost of living

• supermarket

• Shufersal

• Rami Levi

• Price increase