“It’s murder out there” one kebab shop owner told the Cyprus Mail as she spoke about the rise in prices in the industry.
The surge of their costs in procuring key items from meat, sunflower oil, to energy and even vegetables will have to be passed on to the consumers “no matter how much we don’t want to,” the owner told us.
“We’re just not sure when to raise the prices, our butcher told us that another rise is due next week and advised us to increase the price after that so we’re not ‘playing games’ and confusing customers,” the Larnaca resident said.
Pork has gone up ten per cent and is due for another ten per cent rise next week, while chicken has increased about 15 cents per kilo but even basic goods such as the wrapping paper has gone up, too, the owner said.
One butcher told us that the price of meat will continue to rise amid fears that the producers are facing serious shortages of animal feed.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine last month has severely curtailed shipments from the two countries, which jointly account for around 25 per cent of world wheat exports and 16 per cent of world corn exports, leading to surging prices for the grains on international markets.
Russia is also one of the worlds largest suppliers of fertiliser prices of which had already spiked last year, contributing to a 30 per cent increase in world food prices and a related increase in global hunger levels, according to the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) – which focused its report on the impacts faced by the world’s poorest countries.
Another compounding factor, as reported by daily Phileleftheros, is that Ukraine was a key supplier of chicken while others such as Romania and Poland have either placed barriers to their exports or significantly raised prices – leaving Cypriot importers to turn to south American.
It also stated that 60 per cent of the chicken consumed in Cyprus is imported.
Supermarkets have sought to calm the nerves of the public, denying claims of shortages on key goods such as sunflower oil, or reports of rationing on those products.
But local media reported that a ten-litre container of sunflower oil has risen to €18.
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs Cyprus Mail
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