In reality, prices do not choose anything, this is what the business decides, because they see that the consumer will continue to pay, so why not raise them. Easter respite for the buyer was given – now is the time for prices to move up.
And while everyone is happy that inflation is lower compared to last year, after Easter the prices of PricerLT’s cheapest grocery basket go up, while the prices of PricerLT’s popular and well-known basket remain at a similar level. But about everything in a row.
The price analysis of the average price of the cheapest food basket fixed in April 2024 shows that:
the average basket of the cheapest food products in Lithuanian stores was +0.86Eur (+1.3%) more expensive compared to March 2024, and was -15.03Eur (-18.8%) cheaper than in April last year. But, if we compare with pre-war April 2021, the basket is +9.30EUR (+16.7%) more expensive.
April 2024 Pricer.lt price ranking of the cheapest grocery basket
- Maxima increases the price of the basket + 3.19 EUR and remains in first place
- Lidl increases the price + 0.28 EUR and remains in second place
- Barbora increases prices + 0.96 EUR and remains in third place
- Norfa lowers the price of the basket – 2.17 EUR and rises to the fourth place
- e-Rimi increases prices + 1.32 EUR and falls to fifth place
- IKI increases the price of the basket + 1.72 EUR and rises to the sixth place
- Rimi increases the price + 2.56 EUR and stands in seventh place
- Last Mile (IKI online store) reduces prices by -0.98 EUR and remains in eighth place
The difference between the cheapest (Maxima) and the most expensive (IKI online store) basket is EUR 19.66 or 35.3 percent.
The analysis of the average basket prices of popular and well-known Pricer.lt products in April 2024 shows that:
compared to March 2024, prices fall by – 0.07 EUR (-0.1%), the price of the average basket of well-known products in April 2024 was – 1.66 EUR (- 2.7%) lower than the basket of April 2023.
And, if the basket of the cheapest goods is 9.30 EUR (16.7%) more expensive compared to pre-war April 2021, the basket of popular and well-known goods is 18.90 EUR or 46.6% more expensive.
April 2024 Pricer.lt basket price ranking of well-known brands
- Norfa increases prices + 0.62 EUR and remains in first place
- Barbora lowers prices – 0.20 EUR and remains in second place
- e-Rimi reduces the price of the basket – 0.27 EUR and rises to the third place
- Maxima lowers its prices by 0.90 EUR and takes fourth place
- Rimi increases the price + 0.50 EUR and appears in the fifth place of the rating
- Last Mile (IKI electronic store) lowers the price – 0.24 EUR and stands in sixth place
- IKI does not change its price and falls to seventh place
The difference between the cheapest (Norfa) and the most expensive (IKI) baskets of well-known brands is 5.67 EUR or 10.2 percent
Goods
From the prices of 52 products monitored by Pricer.LT, 11 products were expensive and 41 were cheap.
In total, 4 goods out of 52 observed are becoming more expensive (by 10 percent or more).
The most expensive products are the cheapest tomato juice, the cheapest rice, the cheapest cooked sausage, Dvaro kefir.
41 items became cheaper, significantly (more than 10%) – 25: the cheapest ground coffee, the cheapest yogurt, the cheapest loose black tea, sunflower oil, the cheapest brown bread, the cheapest sea pike fillet, the cheapest tomatoes, bananas, the cheapest sour cream, the cheapest fermented cheese.
Pork
The price of pork is falling – 8.9% compared to last year. If we look at the dynamics of 2024, prices have risen since the beginning of the year before Easter and now remain at the same level.
Chicken
Chicken prices remain stable, 3.8% lower than in 2023.
Milk and milk products
It’s still interesting with milk. Although the purchase prices in the EU fell by -8% compared to last year, they rose by 11% in Lithuania, but they are still lower than the EU average by about 15%.
In any case, the prices of dairy products in Lithuania are slowly decreasing, although individual brands are trying to raise them.
It will be interesting to look at the situation in the summer, when there will be higher yields and how the business will share its profits with customers.
What can we expect in the near future?
After looking at the results of the food trade in the first quarter and the behavior of traders with prices, it can be seen that businessmen perceived the upswing in trade as the optimism of buyers.
But here it’s just a calendar performance – an additional day in February gave 3 percentage points of growth in February, as well as some 5-6 percentage points of growth given by Easter, which “escaped” into the fight.
In addition, it is possible that the loss of growth in the catering business has also lost customers to food retailers.
The food trade was hit by the return of VAT and it seems that they did not feel the Easter boom, and only good weather can help in April.
