Price increase: Even butter now costs 40 percent more - experts warn of inflation
Created: 05/11/2022 15:16
By: Stella Henrich
Consumer prices are rising faster than they have been in decades.
Butter, for example, now costs up to 40 percent more than at the beginning of the year.
Experts believe this is the beginning of further inflation.
Munich ‒ Shopping in the supermarket has become an expensive pleasure.
Consumers stand amazed in front of the shelves.
Milk, oil, coffee - even butter has become 40 percent more expensive since the beginning of the year.
Consumer Yvonne Völler, mother of two children, also notices that all animal products have increased significantly.
Sometimes up to one euro.
A price comparison commissioned by the Handelsblatt shows the extent of food price increases.
A liter of whole milk costs eleven percent more than at the beginning of the year, a kilo of wheat flour even plus 20 percent and half a pound of butter even 40 percent more.
This is not the end of the price spiral, warn agricultural economists and consumer experts in the
Handelsblatt
.
Because by no means have all the higher costs of the producers reached the supermarket.
Price increase in the supermarket: Grocery prices continue to rise
According to experts, the war in Ukraine, expensive fertilizers and the drought in many growing areas are likely to make food more expensive.
Expensive groceries, energy costs and fuel are already making inflation in Germany as high as it has been for a good 40 years.
While it was still 5.2 percent in November last year, it has now reached 7.4 percent in April this year.
And is thus well above the annual increase of 3.1 percent in the past year.
When it comes to clothing and sporting goods, too, many consumers want to limit themselves to what is necessary and switch to cheaper products.
Christian Wulff, PwC trading expert
According to a survey by management consultancy PwC, most consumers are worried about the high price increases and want to save more where possible - especially on furniture, sporting goods and electronics.
According to this, every third respondent stated that they wanted to postpone purchases of furniture, electronics, jewelery and watches in order to be able to cope with further price increases.
When it comes to clothing and sporting goods, too, many want to limit themselves to what is necessary or switch to cheaper products, according to PwC retail expert Christian Wulff.
Half a pound of butter now costs 40 percent more than at the beginning of the year.
(symbol image) © olga_sweet/imago
Price increase when shopping: Consumers switch to retailer's own brands
In view of the current challenges, environmental protection and social production conditions are no longer as important as they used to be for more than a third of people.
36 percent of respondents agreed with the statement: "Due to rising prices, sustainability aspects are becoming less important - I now pay more attention to prices."
A result that is also observed by the German Association for Natural Foods.
Consumers are now also looking for cheaper alternatives when it comes to food.
According to the Federal Association, consumers are now buying fewer organic products because of the high inflation.
According to the market research company GfK, when buying organic products, in view of the current price increase, customers are increasingly turning to the store chains' own brands and ignoring the more expensive products from brand manufacturers.
According to GfK, retailers' own organic brands achieved a sales increase of a good nine percent in the first three months.
The organic brand manufacturers, on the other hand, lost eleven percent in sales.
In an interview, nutrition expert Andrea Danitschek from the Bavarian Consumer Center explains in detail how consumers can still relieve their household budget despite rising prices.
Consumer Yvonne Völler will certainly take the tips to heart the next time she makes a purchase.
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