November in Estonian supermarkets: Dairy cheaper, meat and bread pricier

This November saw meat products and eggs as well as both rye and white bread all increase in price, but several dairy products as well as carrot and cabbage prices drop on year.
Compared with the same month last year, the overall keyword for November's food prices is "increase." Nonetheless, while most food items have gotten increasingly expensive within the current calendar year, the latest price information released by the Estonian Institute of Economic Research (EKI) includes somewhat more products whose prices have actually come down on year. Such reductions, however, have been overwhelmingly modest.
Such is the case with wheat flour, for example, the price of which fell by 4 percent, or 6 cents, on year last month – to €1.29 per kilogram.
Other grains and baked goods, however, have gotten more expensive. White bread saw the biggest increase in price on year, rising 16 percent from €2.51 to €2.91 per kilo. Rye bread also went up 9 percent and oatmeal nearly 4 percent on year.
Compared with October, however, these price fluctuations were minimal, with the price per kilo of both rye bread and wheat flour each actually falling by 1 cent on month. Oatmeal and white bread prices, meanwhile, went up 3 and 4 cents, respectively.
Meat product prices have continued to rise steadily, and in November rose on year across all categories of goods tracked by EKI in its monthly price comparisons.
The biggest price hike – 18 percent – was recorded for import chicken, which in November jumped from €2.95 to €3.49 per kilo on year. Domestic chicken likewise went up nearly 13 percent to reach €4.05 per kilo.
Last month, domestic ground meat cost €8.03 per kilo, up 9 percent on year from €7.35 last November. The price of franks and pork ribs also both went up 10 percent on year, while cooked sausage prices increased by even more at 12 percent.
Compared with the previous month, meat product prices remained largely unchanged in November. Pork ribs, boneless beef and pork prices all went up somewhat since October, with pork ribs up the most at an increase of 13 cents per kilogram.
Compared with October, the prices of pork chops, domestic chicken, ground meat, smoked pork chops and cooked sausage all decreased last month, however all of these reductions in price fell at or below the 8-cent mark per kilo.
Fish prices fluctuate more than those of other food prices, and the EKI tracks them both at markets and in supermarkets, between which shoppers can encounter major price differences.
In supermarkets this November, the price of chilled salmon went up 14 percent to €12.25 and chilled trout 6 percent on year, while the price of chilled trout fillet fell nearly 10 percent to €15.55 per kilo, and chilled perch fillet dropped by around the same.
At markets, the price of chilled salmon actually fell instead – by 15 percent on year. Meanwhile, chilled trout, which had gotten cheaper in supermarkets, actually saw the biggest spike in price on year, increasing by 27 percent to total €14.92 per kilogram. Salmon and trout fillet likewise increased in price at markets in November, going up 19 and 13 percent, respectively.
Last month, the price of bagged milk fell by 6 percent on year, dropping from 85 to 80 cents per liter. The price of milk in cartons, however, went up, albeit by just 3 cents on year.
The price of kefir, meanwhile, remained unchanged both on month and on year in November at €1.15 per liter.
Sour cream prices fell by 3 percent or 11 cents on year, falling to €3.34 per kilo in November. Small packages of butter also fell 26 cents in price, and cheese prices were down 5 percent on year, falling from €11.60 to €11.07 per kilo. Cottage cheese, meanwhile, went up nearly 4 and coffee creamer 1 percent on year.
Dairy product prices largely remained steady on month in Estonia, with sour cream, cottage cheese and cheese prices all falling somewhat, however these price drops largely remained within the range of a couple dozen cents.
Domestic eggs, meanwhile, went up 12 percent in price on year, with a ten-count carton of eggs costing an average of €2.81 last month. Import egg prices likewise went up, although slightly less at 7 percent on year.
Compared with October, however, prices for various sizes of eggs didn't fluctuate by more than a couple of percent.
As has been the case for several months already, onions continued to lead the increase in vegetable prices in November, spiking 36 percent on year from 75 cents to €1.02 per kilo. Import tomato prices went up 19 percent on year from €3.04 to €3.61 last month, and import apple prices likewise went up 18 percent on year.
Potatoes had also gotten a few cents more expensive per kilo since last November, however other vegetable prices dropped. Head cabbage saw the biggest, nearly 25-percent drop in price on year from 57 to 43 cents per kilo. Carrot prices also fell by 8 percent, from €1.27 to €1.17 per kilo, while cucumber prices dropped 11 percent on year.
Compared with October, EKI recorded a significant change in the price of head cabbage, which fell by 16 percent in November, but also reductions in the prices of carrots as well as onions.
Cucumbers, tomatoes and potatoes, meanwhile, went up in price on month.
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Editor: Aili Vahtla