Filenews 23 October 2023
The Consumer Protection Service of the Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry announces the Consumer Product Price Observatory for September 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 in which these products were sold in 400 retail stores throughout Cyprus throughout the month.
The purpose of the Observatory is to provide the consumer with an objective comparative depiction of purchase prices from all retail stores, supermarkets, bakeries, bakeries, kiosks, etc.
In conclusion, the assessment made for September shows that although inflation continues the upward trend of previous months, reaching 4% compared to 2.6% in August and 1.5% in July, and inflation in the food sector remained in the period January – September at the same high level of 9.13% compared to the same period last year, prices in 26 of the 45 categories monitored show decreases.
These decreases mainly reflect the moderation recorded by the Statistical Service for Food in September compared to the previous month, with an increase of 0.86% against 1.91%, which is due to the moderation of increases in agricultural products.
As shown in detail in the Table with the price indices for September, out of a total of 45 basic product categories, 26 categories recorded a decrease, with the main ones being toilet paper by 18.3%, baby diapers by 3.8%, fresh meat by 3.4%, frozen breaded/precooked fish by 3.4%, Cypriot coffee by 3.1%, tomato juices/pastes by 2.5%, bulgur by 2.7%, eggs by 2.2% and sanitary napkins by 2%.
Of the remaining categories, greens increased significantly by 17.5%, frozen molluscs and shellfish by 14.3%, fresh and frozen fish by 4.4% and 4.1% respectively, LPG cylinder by 3.1%, biscuits by 2.4%, frozen breaded meat by 2.4% and other products at a lower rate.
It is reiterated that the Consumer Protection Service continues intensively the checks on the implementation of the zero VAT rate measure, recording prices of both the seven product categories approved in the first phase, as well as the four new categories, in nine different supermarkets in 58 points of sale all over Cyprus.
Today's 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 inflation, since approximately 77% of products have remained at the level of 5 May when the zero/reduced VAT rate measure was applied.
The detailed data of the Observatory are provided on the website of the Consumer Protection Service.
