Supermarket inflation continues to decrease, but grocery prices are still significantly higher than this time last year, driving consumers to search for cheaper products.
Since grocery prices started rapidly increasing at the start of this year, consumer protection organisation Test Achats has calculated on average how much more expensive shopping in supermarkets is on a year-on-year basis based on more than 3,000 products. Its analysis for October found that inflation is still 11.5%, down from 13.5% in September, and almost half of what it was at its highest point.
"So inflation is falling, which means products are becoming less expensive. But they are still a lot more expensive than last year," the organisation's spokesperson Laura Clays noted in a statement.
The increase remains prominent for vegetables, which have risen most sharply in price. Carrots are 45% more expensive than last year, while the price of onions is up by 41% compared to October 2022.
The strongest increases were recorded among tomato derivatives such as ketchup (+45%) and tomato paste (38%). "This while tomatoes themselves only increased in price by 2%."
Frozen foods are 18% more expensive on average, with frozen chips (+37%) and fish sticks (+25%) standing out in particular, while among dairy products, mozzarella (+24%) and young (gouda) cheese (+20%) recorded the largest price rise.
In some cases, prices are dropping again. Balsamic vinegar was 13% cheaper in October than last year, while cling film fell by 6% and iceberg lettuce by 4%. "This is good news, but looking at international commodity prices, many more products should drop in price," Clays said.
"Vegetable oil, for example, is 52% cheaper on the international market than in March 2022, but in the supermarket, all frying oils are more expensive than then."
Spending less
According to Test Achats' calculations, a household of two should be paying about €42 more in October than a year ago based on average supermarket prices, but instead, an average family of two is spending less in the supermarket now, Test Achats reported.
This is because consumers chose cheaper shop-owned brands (Boni in Colruyt or 365 at Delhaize, for example) more often last year instead of so-called "A-brands", resulting in lower spending.
"Whereas an average household of two was still spending around €477 a month in the supermarket in October last year, they are now spending around €400," said Clays, explaining that this shows that consumers more often choose the cheaper private brands instead of the A-brands.
"If they had not changed their buying behaviour, the same family would now pay as much as €532 per month. A substantial difference, and yet this does not necessarily mean that we have compromised on quality," she concluded.
