Grocery prices still rising, but some staples getting cheaper

Groceries prices are still rising - Rabobank expects a price increase of 1 to 2 percent this year. But not everything in the supermarket is becoming more expensive. Some staples, like coffee and bread, are falling in price, De Telegraaf reports after speaking to food economists.

“No, prices are not going down,” Sebastiaan Schreijen, a consumer food specialist at Rabobank, told the newspaper. “In fact, inflation is even rising somewhat. That is partly due to the consumption tax on sugary drinks, which has increased. On average, prices continue to rise in January compared to December.”

But there are some products that are becoming cheaper. These are products for which the raw material price dropped. “Everything that has to do with dairy. You saw the milk price for farmers drop significantly last year, and ultimately, with some delay, this also translates into lower dairy prices on the shelf,” Schreijen said. “Not just milk, but also yogurt and cream, for example.”

ING food economist Thijs Geijer also mentioned dairy. Other products he believes will become cheaper: “Certain groceries, breakfast cereal, oatmeal, toast, filter coffee, and sunflower oil.”

Some supermarkets are also lowering the prices of staples - groceries customers regularly buy and, therefore, know the price. “Supermarkets look at this very explicitly: if I do something there, the consumer sees that I’m doing it,” Schreijen said. People are much more likely to notice a change in the price of bread that they buy every week than that of mayonnaise, for example, which they buy much less often.

Supermarket chain Jumbo, with an average of 16,000 items in its range, structurally reduced the price of over 1,500 products in the autumn. “Mainly basic groceries that people often need,” a spokesperson told De Telegraaf.

According to Schreijen, there is a clear strategy behind that move. “If you bring people in or keep them, you hope they will also throw the more luxurious items into the basket.”