In some European countries, the cost of groceries has increased significantly. There are several reasons: these are crop failures, and the rise in world food prices, and the rupture of supply chains. For the same reasons, food prices have risen in Russia as well.
For example, in Brussels, going to the supermarket has become almost twice as expensive, says local journalist Arkady Sukholutsky:
Arkady Sukholutsky journalist from Brussels “In personal meetings, friends and acquaintances say that going to the supermarket has become one and a half to two times more expensive. And people who had never really gone to cheap shops and all sorts of shops began to go and look more closely at the prices. I'm talking about a basic set of products. Prices for real estate also went up, for houses - by 5.7%. People are leaving the big cities. This is an absolutely covid story."
The founder of the 3S Money online bank, Ivan Zhiznevsky, who lives in London, notes that food prices in the British capital have hardly changed.
Ivan Zhiznevsky, founder of the online bank 3S Money “People complain that they have started spending more on food. But in fact, it was not food that went up in price, but people began to eat more - there is nothing more to do. You won't go to the theater, you won't go for a walk, and what remains is to order food delivery or cook something cool. I began to spend more on food, not because it became more expensive, but because I began to eat more. Food prices in England depend on the euro exchange rate if it is a European import. Now Brexit has happened, and it has become more difficult to deliver products - drivers have to fill out more paperwork, we are afraid that goods will rise in price a little. But food prices have not changed significantly. Real estate. It is no longer possible to rent out an apartment in the City of London because there are no workers there. On the other hand, a little outside, a place where there is a garden or some kind of space where you can spend time, began to be in great demand."
But in Italy, sellers, on the contrary, lower the price tag and provide big discounts, says journalist Sergei Jesuitov:
Sergei Jesuitov Italian journalist “Things are going well with prices - they have gone down. Firstly, because the people are becoming impoverished and purchasing power is falling, salaries do not increase, and for some, salaries have disappeared altogether. Real estate has fallen in price. Our friends Italians have been looking for an apartment in your city for a long time, the price tag was 550-600 thousand. And they bought an apartment a month ago for 160 thousand. As for prices in stores - if earlier discounts were from 30% to 50%, now discounts are up to 70%. Now, if you buy products of the same name (yogurt, milk, etc.), you get a significant discount, and to such an extent that you can get the third product of the same name for free."
Meanwhile in Paris, prices are rising, says local resident Lyudmila Gourdain:
“Prices are also growing, but not too much. But even in the cheapest stores, prices jumped by 10-15%. And Paris has become a more expensive city, prices are rising rapidly there. Property prices have risen as the pandemic has forced people to leave the big cities, which has caused a rise in prices for houses that were not previously interested."
Earlier, German residents told Business FM that grocery prices in stores rose by about 10%.
