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- Ελληνικά
The Consumer Protection Service announces the Consumer Product Price Watch for the month of December 2023. The Observatory presents the weighted average price for 250 basic consumer products (food and other products), based on the quantities and prices per day at which these products were sold in 400 retail outlets nationwide throughout the month.
The purpose of the Observatory is to provide consumers with an objective comparative reflection of purchase prices from all retail outlets, supermarkets, bakeries, bakeries, bakeries, kiosks, etc.In conclusion, the valuation for December shows that prices are following the downward trend of inflation which, as a result of the continuous reduction in energy costs and food inflation, amounted to 1.6% in December compared to 1.7% in November, 3.5% in October and 4% in September. According to published data from the Statistical Office, inflation in the food sector stood at 7.74% in January-December 2023 compared to the same period last year and compared to 8.14% in January-November and 8.74% in January-October. The large decrease compared to the previous month is due to the change of -4.33% in agricultural products and -5.32% in petroleum products.
As shown in detail in Table of price indices for the month of December, out of a total of 45 categories of basic products, 29 categories recorded a decrease, with the largest decreases observed in frozen pasta by 8.2%, flour by 7.3%, oil by 5.8% due to a decrease in sunflower oil prices, vegetables/greens by 5.5%, eggs by 5.1%, Cypriot coffee by 4.6%, vegetable cooking fat by 3.9%, yoghurt by 3.9%, juices by 3.8% and baby food by 3.6%.
16 categories showed an increase, with the most significant being frozen molluscs/shellfish up 5.6%, sausages up 4.1%, sugar up 3.8%, frozen fish up 3.5%, cheese up 2.7% and fresh meat up 1.6%.
In the context of monitoring the market and recording trends as they evolve from international and domestic conditions, the Service has again carried out on 15/1/2024 the price recording of 43 common and very important products for the household in three supermarkets in the city of Larnaca. As shown in the Comparative Observatory which is attached, the difference in value of the most expensive basket from the cheapest is 11% or €189.80 compared to €171.49 with the middle basket at €182.93. In addition, the benefit to the consumer of applying the zero rate of Value Added Tax (VAT) to the 11 products covered by the measure, including meat and vegetables from 1/12/2023, amounts to between €6.94 - €7.11 on total purchases worth around €85 depending on the supermarket.
It is reiterated that the Consumer Protection Service continues intensive checks on the implementation of the zero VAT rate measure, recording prices of all approved product categories in nine different hypermarkets in 58 outlets nationwide. The current assessment from the implementation of the measure, based on the findings of the audits, is that it has had a positive effect on prices and thus inflation since in about 75% of products prices have remained at the levels of 5 May when the measure was implemented. According to the findings of the last audit carried out on 12/1/2024, compliance is universal with the percentages for milk, eggs, vegetables, sugar and coffee at 85-90% and for other products at a lower percentage.
The Consumer Protection Service clarifies that the Price Observatories are prepared solely for consumer information purposes and in no way constitute advice. The Price Observatory is not intended to and cannot replace the market research to be carried out by each consumer on the basis of his or her own preferences, data and needs, nor is it intended to indicate to consumers the points of sale to choose or specific products.
In particular, it should be noted that some of the products included in the Price Observatory are subject to qualitative differences which cannot be determined. To this end, the Service encourages consumers to carry out meaningful market research before making purchases, taking into account the results of this Observatory.
Detailed information on the Observatory is available at website of the Consumer Protection Service.
(B]PIO[/B]
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