Prices Of Staple Foods Down By Around 2% In May Against March

05.31.2011 ZF English

Staple foods became 2.1% cheaper in May against March, reveals the ZF index, calculated based on the prices in Bucharest hypermarkets.

ZF has been following the prices of 15 selected products in the same Bucharest hypermarkets - Carrefour Orhideea and Real Afi Cotroceni - since 2008. The products have been chosen because they are the most common in Romanians' shopping carts. When calculating this index, ZF chose one brand for each category of products - a well-positioned brand in terms of market share, produced by one of the top-five players in that category.

Among the products analyzed by ZF, the biggest price declines were recorded by Lemarco sugar (1 kilo), which costs 4.84 lei (EUR1.17) in May, 14.9% less than in March, by new potatoes, whose price has fallen by 20.8%, and by Transavia chicken breast, which is 8.7% cheaper than in March.

"There is a slight flattening of prices throughout Europe, which can also be noticed in Romania. But it is a seasonal thing; it is summer now the price of milk, eggs, meat and vegetables is lower this time of year. The reason could be the lower electricity consumption (days are longer and temperatures are higher) and the arrival of new harvests," said Sorin Minea, chairman of food industry association Romalimenta and majority shareholder of cold cuts producer Angst and of the Angst supermarket chain.

The products that saw the highest price increases - among those analyzed by ZF - were Coca-Cola (2l), golden apples and Baneasa flour (1 kilo), whose prices rose by 12.3%, 19.7% and 6.21% respectively.

(EUR1=RON4.1207)