As of: February 27, 2024, 5:28 p.m
By: Fabian Hartmann
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Not all goods and foods benefit equally from the recent decline in inflation.
The prices for fruit in particular continue to rise.
Kassel - Although inflation in Germany fell in January compared to the end of the previous year, this does not have a positive effect on the prices of all foodstuffs.
Individual foods and product groups are affected by inflation in different ways, and hardly any other food is affected as much as fruit.
As
Wirtschaftswoche
reports based on information from the Federal Statistical Office, fruit prices in Germany were 10.2 percent higher in January 2024 than in the same month of the previous year - although the overall inflation rate was only 2.9 percent.
But not only fruit became more expensive, but also vegetables: a total of around eight percent.
Hardly any other product segment in the consumer price index is subject to such high jumps in price development.
When the Wiesbaden statistics authority presents preliminary figures for the month of February on Wednesday, little will have changed in this gap.
Fruit prices are rising despite falling inflation - but where is the price increase highest?
The price increase in the fruit segment is particularly noticeable in the price of oranges.
Citrus fruits have been trading at increasingly higher prices for years, as has orange juice.
Its price recently rose to $3.34 on the New York Commodity Exchange.
But how could such a massive price increase in the fruit product segment come about?
The composition of fruit, which is relevant for calculating inflation, depends on the season and changes from month to month, explains Andreas Brügger, managing director of the German Fruit Trade Association.
Due to seasonal effects, sharp increases in food prices are not uncommon, especially not at the beginning of the year.
Overall, all prices for fresh produce are considered “extremely volatile,” adds Brügger.
The weather and the related harvest play a central role in the final price - as we all know, these are less reliable factors.
For example, the harvest volume of bush berries in Germany fell by 3.7 percent last year compared to the previous year.
Consumer advocates are also alarmed by the rising prices of some foods
Added to this are the current production conditions in agriculture.
The costs of energy, fertilizer and feed for farmers remain higher than in the past and have contributed to farmers in Germany protesting for weeks.
And the agricultural diesel subsidy canceled by Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) could also play a part in this in the future.
But the ongoing labor shortage and the increased minimum wage are also making the harvest more expensive - and causing consumer prices to rise.
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Fruit display in a supermarket © Michael Gottschalk/photothek.net
The fact that the prices of certain foodstuffs are rising so sharply when inflation is falling is now also attracting attention from consumer advocates.
For example, Ramona Pop, board member of the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (vzbv).
It calls on the federal government to set up a so-called price observation center “that records price formation along the value chain.”
The vzbv board criticizes that it is currently not possible to understand how the prices for food are made up and who ultimately makes a lot of profit.
The still high food prices in the supermarket too often resembled a “black box,” she criticized in a press release in January (January 4, 2024).
“More transparency is needed here.” Falling inflation does not mean that prices are falling.
“They just rise less quickly,” says Pop.
(Fabian Hartmann)