Food Basket Increased Nearly 17% In Last Seven Months

The Icelandic Confederation of Labour (ASÍ) “shopping basket” increased in all eight supermarkets surveyed in the last seven months, with the highest increase of 16.6% at Heimkaup and the lowest of 5.1% at Krónan.

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ASÍ’s shopping basket reflects the price of food purchases of an average Icelandic household. This increase corresponds to changes in the consumer price index during the same period, which shows a 6.2% increase in food and beverages, reports Fréttablaðið.

Up by 16.6%

The shopping basket rose the most at Heimkaup, 16.6%. Beverages were the category with the greatest increase at Heimkaup, 33.8%, while meat products had the least, 6.7%.

The second-largest shopping basket increase, 12.4%, was at Iceland. Iceland’s dairy products rose 24.1%, which is the largest increase in this product category in the survey.

Other stores with an increased shopping basket include 8.9% at Krambúðin, 7.5% in Kjörbúðin and 6.5% at Hagkaup.

Discount stores

Among discount stores, the shopping basket rose the most at Nettó, 8.7%, and the least at Krónan, 5.1%.

At Nettó, the largest price increases were 11% in both the meat products and dairy, cheese and egg categories. The price of beverages at Nettó rose the least by 1.6%.

At Krónan, meat prices rose the most, by 10%, and dairy, cheese and eggs the next most, by 8%. The price of vegetables, on the other hand, fell by 1.3% and the price of fruit by 0.8%. Prices in other food categories in the store rose by 3-5%.

At Bónus, the shopping basket rose by 5.7%. Bónus saw the largest increase in fruit during the period, 10.3%. This is followed by an 8.9% increase in hygiene and cosmetics and an 8.3% increase in dairy, cheese and eggs.

Dairy, cheese and eggs rose the most

There were large price increases in all product categories, but prices rose most in the dairy, cheese and eggs category in the range of 8-25%.

Prices of meat products and fruit and vegetables also rose sharply. These are also the categories where prices fluctuate the most.