The price of sunflower oil and sugar decreased by 34% this year, rice, beans and cereals are up to 17% more expensive.
2023-12-11 12:31:09
TiranaPost
Prices for a number of food basket products have declined this year compared to previous years according to data from importing companies.
Among the food basket products with the highest decline ranging from 30 to 34% are sunflower oil and sugar, while selling prices for rice, beans and cereals have increased from 1.5 to 15.5%.
According to the data of the food importing and packaging company "Teuta" for the period October-November 2022, the average selling price of sunflower oil was 350 ALL per liter. For the same period of this year, the average selling price for sunflower oil is 201 ALL per liter, marking a 34% drop.
The decline in the sale of sunflower oil is also reported by other importers, where according to them sunflower oil is currently being sold in bulk at a price below 200 ALL per liter (the price varies from 150 to 180 ALL per liter).
The reduction in the price of sunflower oil started from June 2022, the period in which oil from Ukraine's deposits began to be imported to border countries, as sea transport was blocked by the war. In July 2022, the price of oil decreased by 24% compared to the sale price after the war.
After the start of the Russia-Ukraine war and the difficulties created in the import of sunflower oil, the prices in the Albanian market increased by about 33%. In March 2022, the price of sunflower oil was traded at 330 ALL per liter from 249 ALL per liter in February (32.5% increase). After this period, the price increased by about 9% and reached 370 ALL per liter, while in the middle of April the retail price of oil reached the peak of 400 ALL per liter.
There was also a drop in the price of sugar. The average price of sugar according to the data of the Teuta company for the months of October-November 2023 reached 100 allek per kg from 115 allek per kg that was last year (15% decrease).
Other importers also confirmed to Monitor that the selling price of wholesale sugar is currently 100 Lek per kg from 130 Lek per kg that was sold last year (a 30% drop).
The change in the price of sugar has been influenced by the decrease in its sale on the stock exchange and the change in the exchange rate of the dollar, the currency with which sugar is bought on the stock exchange.
In the basket products, there was an increase in prices for the months of October-November for rice, beans and cereals.
Rice from 152 Lek per kg that was sold for the months of October-November last year, this year has reached the average price of 156 Lek (an increase of about 3%).
While the average selling price for packaged beans from 214 per kg that was years ago, for 2023 the average selling price is 247 ALL per kg, with an increase of about 15.5%.
The average sale price for cereals has increased by 1.5%.
There has also been an increase in prices for restaurants this year. The representative of the Association of Bars and Restaurants, Enri Jahja, told Monitor that the expenses per person in restaurants vary from 3,500 to 4,000 lek, from 3,000 to 3,500 lek per person, which reached years.
Spending on restaurants has increased from 13 to 17% per person.
The weight of expenses for food and non-alcoholic beverages among Albanian families continues to remain the highest compared to European countries. The expenses of Albanians in 2022 for food and non-alcoholic beverages accounted for 39.7% of the family budget expenses according to INSTAT data.
The high weight and expenses for food in Albania compared directly to European countries is one of the main indicators for the level of low income of Albanian families, high prices and poverty.
According to INSTAT, in 2022, the average monthly consumption expenses for a Family Economic Unit, consisting on average of 3.7 people, are estimated at 88,367 ALL, 4.5% higher than in 2021.
The rest of the expenses with a weight of 9.8% were paid for energy, water, and rent. 6.5% of the expenses are for furnishing and maintenance. The share of spending on transport in 2022 was 6.9%, on restaurants and bars 7.3% and on clothing and footwear 5%.
The average expenditure on food in the food basket in Europe according to Eurostat reaches 13.6%, about 3 times lower than Albania. The country with the lowest expenditure on food, which shows the well-being of society in Europe, is England with 7.9%. In other developed countries such as Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, food expenses account for 9 to 11.7% of income.
Article by monitor.al
