The Labor Chamber’s price monitor currently shows extreme price increases for weekly purchases. This is especially true for cheap groceries and drugstore items. For example, a colossal price jump of 133 percent was recorded for cheap sunflower oil within a year. The price jumps are also particularly dramatic for drugstore items: you now have to spend more than ten times more for the cheapest nail polish from a popular chain.
“The wave of inflation continues. Many people have to turn over every euro twice before spending it. As a result, cheaper products end up in the shopping cart more and more often. The bad thing is that even previously cheap products cost much more for a long time,” said Gabriele Zgubic of the Labor Chamber, shocked by the results.
Private label products no longer in stock
To make matters worse, some of the cheapest products, especially the stores’ own brands, are sometimes unavailable or not available in stores and online stores. Consumers then have no choice but to buy a considerably more expensive branded product. Just like with nail polish in the Bipa online shop: In January 2022, the cheapest Today product cost 0.48 euros per 100 milliliters. In January 2023, the only “cheapest” nail polish remover was Maybelline Express Nails (per 100 milliliters) for 5.60 euros – this corresponds to an increase of 1066.7 percent.
While not as extreme, the price jumps for staple foods are still dramatic. While in December 2021 you could still buy sunflower oil from Bellasan at Hofer for 1.50 euros, now only Estermann sunflower oil was on the shelves for the “best” price of 3.49 euros per litre: a price increase of 132.7 percent. Handsome flour from Clever (one kilo) still cost 0.49 euros at Billa in December 2021, in December 2022 you had to pay 0.85 euros – “that’s a handy plus of 73.5 percent,” according to the AK.
High price jumps also for branded items
Many branded power supplies have also become significantly more expensive within a year. In January 2022, the Interspar webshop estimated that a kilogram of fine granulated sugar from Wiener Zucker would cost 0.99 euros, and in December 2022 it would already cost 1.59 euros. This corresponds to an increase of 60.6 percent. For Ölz’s slices of toast, Billa’s online shop charged 3.98 euros per kilo in January 2022, in December 2022 it was already 5.98 euros – an increase of 50.3 percent.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
