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Have the prices of fruits and vegetables increased or decreased in the last year? - Walla! Of money

2022-08-17T08:05:33.801Z


Despite the increase in the price of vegetables and fruits, consumer prices have fallen this year by more than 10%, and there is nothing to do with the reforms, nor with the farmers, but mainly with the retailers


Have the prices of fruits and vegetables increased or decreased in the last year?

Despite the increase in the price of vegetables and fruits, consumer prices have fallen this year by more than 10%, and this has nothing to do with the reforms, nor with the farmers, but mainly with the retailers who discovered that this is the most significant tool they have left in the war against the rising prices of the leading brands

Dr. Hezi Gur Mizrahi

08/17/2022

Wednesday, August 17, 2022, 10:40 am Updated: 10:54 am

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Fruits and vegetables: If it seems to you that there is no connection between the data in the Consumer Price Index and the actual prices, you are probably right (Photo: ShutterStock)

Our household expenses consist of a large number of areas of expenditure, but the fruits and vegetables, whether because of nostalgia or because of the increase in awareness of healthy food consumption, capture a lot of attention.

We who grew up on oranges in the winter and peaches in the summer, who nationalized the finely chopped Arab salad and turned it into an Israeli icon, we who reinvented agriculture on the border of the desert - are we required to pay more for fruits and vegetables than in cold Europe?



And it's not just the nostalgia, but also the practice: the fruit and vegetable component of household expenses is 11% of total home consumption expenses.

A family of 4 will spend an average of NIS 260 per month on fruits and vegetables - and those who want to make them an integral part of the healthy food that they and their family consume, will of course part with a much higher amount.



Although we treat the vegetable basket as one piece, in practice it has a different nature and there is a differentiation between the vegetable basket and the fruit basket, in the field of fresh vegetables there are products that are multi-seasonal and are commonly found in most current shopping baskets, such as tomato, cucumber, red pepper and more.



The vegetables are a significant nutritional component for us and are found both in fresh foods such as raw salad and in cooked dishes.

Fruits, on the other hand, have a different role: they are seen as part of the dessert or as a substitute for a snack.



The variety of fruits changes according to the seasons: there is the watermelon season, the citrus season, the strawberry season and more.

The price differences between the days of launch and the days of the end of the season remind us of the behavior of fashion companies, but the difference is that in the fruit market the difference between demand and supply affects the price in a much more dramatic way.

Did the vegetables and fruits go up?

We carried out an inspection the day after the publication of the data (compared to January 2022) - and here is what we discovered (Photo: Daniel Malachovsky)

If it is expensive in the index, how is it that it is cheap in the supermarket (and vice versa)?

Why?

Because fruits and vegetables are the main engine for driving consumers to retail chains.









In more specific words: promotions and advertisements about tomatoes and cucumbers create a lot of interest among customers compared to advertising about liquid for washing floors or an energy snack.

For many reasons that are a combination of practice (increased daily consumption) and nostalgia (we grew up on the Israeli tomato, less on energy bars).



There are many among us who have stopped or reduced the consumption of meat, for example, there are vegans who avoid all animal food, there are those who avoid sugar (in its industrial version) or gluten, but avoiding vegetables and fruits, beyond reasons of personal preference, is almost non-existent.

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A mixed trend, but very clear: in the last year the prices of most fruits and vegetables in Israel have decreased (photo: Daniel Malachovski)

The gap between the data and the consumer reality in the field

According to the CBS data, the price index of vegetables and fruits increased by 8.50% compared to last month, but in the review samples we performed, this is a different figure and nothing less than amazing: the trend is exactly the opposite and the prices of vegetables and fruits according to average prices August 2022 compared to August 2021 show a reduction of 10.60% - Although the vegetable products became more expensive by 3.70%, but in contrast the fruit products were reduced by 12.51% -



We performed a parallel sample also against the month of January 2022 and to examine what happened to our vegetable and fruit basket and here too we identified a negative trend (that is, very positive in every other respect) in the data: the basket The general was reduced by 8.50% - for the consumer, the prices of fruits were reduced by 8.35% - and the prices of vegetables were reduced by 4.00% -



the data are not intended to present the data of the Central Bank in their entirety, but to sharpen the gap between prices and transactions "on paper" and are the prices for the consumer in a dynamic market and biased promotions and discounts.



Amidst the criticism of the cost of living and with all the price increases of local and imported products, the only area where the retail chains can operate freely, present specials and offer discounts is in the field of fresh food, where the price is not known to the public and changes almost daily.

An example of the gap between the "official" price and the price for the consumer in the field.

Fresh food allows retailers a large scope of action (Photo: Daniel Malachovsky)

The retailers' version prevails over the farmers' version

Imagine that we would buy a carton of milk one day for 10 shekels, the next day for 5 - and on the third day at a sale of 1.90 shekels per carton... Well, this is exactly what happens with the prices of fruits, vegetables and chicken (for example), in other words: in non-packaged products.



For example: we made a comparison on Tuesday August 16 between the prices and promotions offered by the chains to customers and the recommended purchase prices at the Plant Council or the Ministry of Agriculture



as you can see: the defined "recommended purchase" price that appears in the statistics is often far from the retail-consumer reality on the ground.

Sometimes it is more expensive than the price required by the retailer, but many times it is significantly cheaper - to attract customers to the supermarket that offers them a relatively cheap fruit and vegetable basket (but charges them more for the pasta and diapers).



The main solution for waging a war on the cost of living in the field of vegetables and fruits is regulation, process management and supervision of the produce.

If we are in a market where the farmers blame the retailers for brokerage gaps that rob the public, but according to the reported data the purchase prices for the retailers jumped and the consumer prices were lowered, then the retailers are the ones who lower the price for the consumer.



And despite this, the day-to-day fluctuations in the price manage to blur it and create a feeling of discomfort and resentment among consumers, who of course remember that the price of an insurance product reached 100 shekels, but the fact that its price the next day may be only 30 shekels, will bother them less.

And it's not that we, the consumers, are to blame, but it's easier for us to revolt in the face of tuna prices, than to follow the price of a fresh product that changes from day to day.

Because in canned tuna we will immediately notice a change of a single shekel - but the tomato that cost 9 shekels per kilo, today is sold for one and a half shekels - and tomorrow it will be sold for 5 shekels per kilo, we have long since lost the ability to track it.

  • Of money

  • consumption

Tags

  • fruits

  • vegetables

  • Cost of living

Source: walla

All business articles on 2022-08-17

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