Food became 12 percent more expensive last year, despite inflation halving

Food prices increased an average of 12.1 percent in 2023, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported on Thursday. The price increase was even stronger than in the high-inflation year of 2022 when food prices rose 10.8 percent. Inflation as a whole amounted to 3.8 percent last year, the statistics office confirmed. That is more than half lower than the 10 percent inflation in 2022.

“The price development of food, in particular, contributed to inflation in 2023,” CBS said. The foods with the largest price increases last year were sugar (35.2 percent) and olive oil (20.7 percent). The price for bread and other grain products also had an above-average increase at 15.5 percent.

These price increases mainly occurred at the beginning of 2023. After February, food prices stabilized somewhat, increasing only slightly until July and then showing a minor decline.

Eating out and takeaways also became significantly more expensive last year. “Restaurants and cafes were, on average, 8.8 percent more expensive in 2023 than a year earlier. In 2022, the price increase was 7.9 percent,” CBS said.

The reason inflation was lower last year than in 2022 was primarily because energy prices fell. Energy became 37.0 percent cheaper in 2023 than in 2022. Energy prices were also the main driver behind the high inflation in 2022.

The stats office also calculated Dutch inflation based on the European harmonized method - a standardized method used to easily compare the inflation of different countries in the eurozone. The European method is less comprehensive than CBS’s own, excluding things like the costs of living in your home.

Based on that method, Dutch inflation was 4.1 percent in 2023, compared to 11.6 percent the year before. Inflation in the eurozone fell from 8.4 percent in 2022 to 5.4 percent in 2023, according to preliminary figures.