Food prices continue to rise despite drop in manufacturing prices

Netherlands residents still face increasing food prices in supermarkets despite producer prices for food falling. Producer food prices, including for imports, were 4.2 percent lower in July than in January. The prices that Dutch consumers paid for food were 3.7 percent higher, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported.

“Consumer prices for food usually follow producer prices with some delay,” CBS said, usually due to long-term contracts between producers and sellers. It may, therefore, take some time before supermarkets pay the higher or lower prices to the wholesaler or manufacturer and pass the difference on to the customer.

Consumers may still see some higher prices in the supermarkets in the coming period. The consumer prices for food manufacturers increased by 31 percent in July 2023 compared to June 2020. In the same period, food products became 24 percent more expensive for consumers. But the continuous price hikes seem to be coming to an end. Less than 15 percent of food manufacturers expect rising sales prices in the next three months, CBS said.