Prices are still rising, although slower than a year ago.  Check what's at the top of the price range

Prices are still rising, albeit at a slower pace than a year ago. Check out what’s at the top of the pricey list

The biggest year-on-year price increase was observed in food additives, up 15.4%. The leading price increase was also seen in household chemicals, up 9.7% year-on-year, sweets and desserts – 9.6%, soft drinks – 9.1%, and personal hygiene products – 4.8% year-on-year. In turn, the biggest drop was noted in fats – down 22.1% year-on-year.

According to a periodically issued report entitled “PRICE INDEX IN RETAIL STORES”, authored by UCE RESEARCH and WSB Merito Universities, in March this year, everyday shopping prices increased on average by 2.1 percent year-on-year. In total, nearly 75 thousand retail prices from over 34.7 thousand stores belonging to 55 retail chains were compared. For comparison, in February they went up year-on-year by 3.9 percent, and in January – by 4.8 percent.

– The dynamics of price increases in retail stores are clearly slowing down. This trend is visible almost throughout the European Union. However, we should remain moderately optimistic, among other things due to the expiry of zero VAT on food. Although some retail chains declared that they would not increase prices by the value of the above-mentioned tax, I believe that we can expect an increase in the dynamics of increases. Another pro-inflationary factor will be the announced unfreezing of energy prices in Poland in the second half of the year – comments Dr. Agnieszka Gawlik from WSB Merito University.

In turn, Dr. Joanna Wieprow from WSB Merito University notes that in March, retail chains introduced many promotions in connection with the pre-holiday period. – In such a hot season in trade, stores tried to attract customers and remain competitive on the market. The pace of price increases is indeed slowing down, but products are still getting more expensive – she emphasizes.

As reported by analysts from UCE RESEARCH, the situation may also reverse due to the fact that recently strongly competing discount stores will have to let up a bit, because the time for a review of their activities is approaching rapidly. In some cases, prices will have to increase. This will particularly affect those goods for which VAT was unfrozen at the beginning of April. Experts add that results such as in March may not be repeated. At that time, out of 17 analyzed categories, only one recorded a double-digit increase year-on-year. A month earlier, this applied to 2 segments. Recently, 7 groups of goods showed single-digit growth year-on-year, and in February – 10. In March, however, as many as 9 categories year-on-year were in the red. Previously, there were 5.

– These results are directly related to the downward trend in inflation and the stabilization of factors that previously caused large increases. Of course, some groups of goods will continue to increase in price, but it can be cautiously assumed that the time of double-digit increases in most categories is already behind us – says Dr. Agnieszka Gawlik.

According to Dr. Wieprow, the decrease in the number of categories with double-digit price increases suggests a general trend towards a slower pace of price increases. This may be due to factors such as competition between retailers, changes in consumer preferences, or seasonal promotions. “Prices in stores in the first half of this year will continue to rise, but probably at a slower pace than in the previous year. And these will mainly be single-digit increases,” the expert adds.

Source: UCE RESEARCH