Trade expects strong price increases «kleinezeitung.at
Even before the Ukraine war, a more than 5 percent increase “across the range of products” was registered in Germany. The Austrian trade association also expects price increases in this country.
8 p.m., April 01, 2022
to die food prices in Germany should continue to increase significantly according to estimates by the retail sector. Even before the outbreak of the Ukraine war, prices “across the product range” had risen by a good 5 percent, said Josef Sanktjohanser, President of the German Retail Association (HDE), the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” (Friday). This was the result of increased energy costs.
The Austrian trade association assumes a similar development for the domestic food trade in the coming weeks. In the “first wave of inflation” in Germany, the prices for butter (plus 22 percent in February 2022), oil (plus 12.9 percent) and lemonade (plus 10 percent) rose, according to Rainer Will, Managing Director of the Trade Association. A “second wave of inflation” cannot be ruled out in the coming weeks. According to Will, price increases are to be expected for meat in particular due to the feed and fertilizer problems, as well as for eggs and grain products.
“In a timely manner everywhere in the supermarkets”
“The second wave of price increases is coming, and it will certainly be in the double digits”, said the German Trade Association President Sanktjohanser. The first retail chains had already begun to raise prices. “We’ll see that on the price tags all over the supermarkets.” “For now there will be no more sustained downward movement in prices“, says Sanktjohanser. Retail chains such as Aldi, Edeka and Globus had recently announced price increases.
The German Farmers’ President Joachim Rukwied said that the food supply was secured for the foreseeable future for a year. “But beyond that time horizon, it’s difficult to make a forecast.” At the level of the Central Coordination for Trade and Agriculture (ZKHL), the leading trade and agricultural industry associations exchange views on the consequences of the Ukraine war. ZKHL Managing Director Hermann-Josef Nienhoff said the current wave of price increases has not yet reached consumers. The ZKHL was founded after ongoing protests from the agricultural sector against the retail group’s pricing policy.