Lower Swedish food prices in July - Brief Article

Eurofood, August 31, 2000

Swedish food prices eased off 0.4% between June and July and were up 0.9% for the year to July, according to monthly price data from Statistics Sweden. The monthly fall in food prices was in line with the 0.5% decline in June according to data from the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The July inflation rate was unchanged from the previous month at 1.2%.

In the dairy sector yoghurt prices advanced 0.4% from June to a 1.6% annual gain. Hard cheese prices eased 0.2% but remained 1.0% higher than a year ago, and in the fresh produce sector, fresh fruit prices eased 3.1% in July. However, the sector is characterised by large price variations of individual fruits and in July oranges jumped up 6.2%, although remaining 8.2% lower than in July of last year. Banana prices dropped 12.5% in July and were 11.3% lower than last year. Fresh vegetable prices eased 3.4%, but were 0.8% higher on a year-to-year basis. Bulk potato prices slumped 21.7% in month as well as being 14.4% lower than 1999, and tomato prices rocketed 23.6% in month but were still 20.4% lower than last July.

In the meat sector, beef prices bucked the trend and rose by 1.1% during July, an annual gain of 3.0%. Porkmeat prices were up 0.6%, and up 5.0% in year. Poultry meat gained 0.5% for the month and was 1.1% higher than in July of last year, according to the figures. In the beverage sector, soft drinks prices rose 0.4% in month to a 1.4% yearly gain, while mineral waters rose 1.2% from June and by 3.0% from July of last year. Coffee prices eased 0.2% in month, but were 4.9% lower than in last July, according to the Swedish statistics bureau.