Food inflation: oils, dairy, pasta, meat and coffee on steep rise since January

The price of basic food stuffs like cheese, pasta and eggs has gone up by as much as 18% since January this year as shoppers continue to feel the pinch.

Figures obtained by MaltaToday from the National Statistics Office offers a breakdown of how the prices of individual food products have shot up in just six months.

If a litre of sunflower oil used to cost around €2.50 at the start of the year, its price has gone up to €3.36 per litre among the cheaper-range products on sale, according to the statistics.

Indeed, the annual inflation rate for refined oils stood at a whopping 41.3% in August.

The supermarket shelves are testament to the statistics. Litre bottles of sunflower oil are costing people anywhere between €3.50 to €4.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is largely to blame for the high sunflower oil prices. Ukraine is the world’s largest producer of sunflower oil, and the war ground its production to a halt.

One supermarket chain had told MaltaToday last June that the price of all imports have risen significantly this year.

The price of other products have shot up over the months too. According to the NSO’s statistics, the price of pasta jumped by 17.6% since last January, or 32.4% since August 2021. Cheese prices increased by 18.2% since last January, or 20.82% since last year.

In general, prices increased by 10-15% for eggs, margarine and butter, frozen meat, poultry and rabbit meat, coffee, processed vegetables, and fish.

The only products that fell in price are fresh and chilled foods, vegetables, and unprocessed potatoes. These fell by 7.6%, 14% and 25.9% respectively.

Inflation has not only hit food prices, with postal and air transport services following a similar trajectory. If such services cost €3 in January, they now cost €3.90.

Women are paying a higher premium on their clothes as well. The price of women’s outerwear has shot up by 20%. If a jacket cost €30 in January, it now costs €36.

Men’s outerwear prices have gone up by 13.2%, meaning jackets have gone from costing €30 to €34.

Materials for plastering and cement rendering increased by 14.1%, while materials for painting increased by 9.4%.

The Maltese government adopted a policy of price stability in the wake of the energy crisis that has hit Europe as a result of the war in Ukraine. On the continent, electricity and fuel prices have soared, hitting families hard and forcing governments now to intervene heavily.

Apart from energy subsidies, the Maltese government is subsidising imported wheat, barley and other grains.