Dutch grocery prices still rising faster than in neighboring countries
Grocery prices in the Netherlands continue to rise faster than in neighboring countries, according to European inflation data cited by Financieele Dagblad (FD). Economists and politicians are reportedly increasingly alarmed by persistent food inflation, even as overall price growth slows.
Data from Statistics Netherlands (CBS) show that in September, Dutch food prices were 3.7 percent higher than a year earlier — above the European average of 3 percent. In Belgium, prices rose 3.2 percent, and in Germany, 2.9 percent. The sharpest increases in the Netherlands were seen in beef, up 34 percent, coffee, up 22 percent, and chocolate, up 19 percent.
Despite a monthly slowdown, the Netherlands remains the Western European country with the steepest annual grocery price rise. The issue has fueled political debate and public frustration as Dutch shoppers continue to pay more than their Belgian and German counterparts.
The Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) has launched an investigation into possible unfair profits among supermarkets and food producers.
Rabobank analyst Sebastiaan Schreijen said rising operating costs play a major role. “Wages for supermarket and factory workers, as well as rents for supermarket branches, have all gone up. Those costs need to be covered, and that shows in the grocery prices,” he told FD. The Netherlands also has higher VAT on groceries than Belgium and Germany, adding to the gap.
Laurens Sloot, director at the Efmi business school for the food sector, said grocery markets are largely local. “If Colruyt lowers the price of milk in Belgium, Delhaize and Albert Heijn Belgium will probably follow, but Albert Heijn in the Netherlands, of course, won’t,” he told FD.
