Annual supermarket survey shows spiraling prices in many dailycommodities - CHOICE # 366

The inflation threat is, slowly but surely, hitting the pocket of supermarket shoppers in many daily commodities.

Prices of a basket of 200 items commonly carried in the three supermarket chains - CRVanguard, Parknshop, Wellcome - were up by an overall average of 2.2% last year.

Included in the Consumer Council annual supermarket price survey were 11 main categories of goods: bread/cakes, dairy/yogurt products, candies/biscuits/snacks, staple food, non-staple food/sauces, canned food/soup, beverages, hot drinks, baby products and food, personal care products, paper/household cleaning/laundry products.

With the exception of one single main category, price increases were recorded for all the other 10 categories of goods, ranging from 0.1% to 5.4%.

The sole category that bucked the rising price trend with actually a decrease of 0.4% in price was related to paper/household cleaning/laundry products.

A more detailed analysis of the prices - when the 11 main categories were divided into 37 sub-categories - showed that some items were considerably higher in price than the overall average increase of 2.2%.

A double-digit price increase of 10.4% was recorded in the product group of edible oil which, in the opinion of the supermarkets, was due mainly to higher raw material and production costs.

Others with notable increases included: toothpaste (7.8%), teabags (6.5%), shampoo (5.8%), breakfast cereal (5.8%), sanitary protection (5.7%), and snacks (5.3%).

On the other hand, 8 sub-categories of goods surveyed were found to come down in prices: fabric/laundry detergent (-1.8%), packaged rice (-1.3%), and frozen dim sum and ready meals (-1.3%).

One sub-category remained unchanged in price: infant milk formula/milk powder.