March 27, 2024·News·Lenka Skrzeczkova·Romana Navarová
Tomas Prouza. (Photo: Frequency 1)
The President of the Trade and Tourism Association Tomáš Prouza was a guest of the Press Club. In the interview, he told us if the price of chocolate will increase by tens of percent. Will this Easter be the second cheapest and is it still worth going to buy groceries in Poland?
According to Prouza, chocolate manufacturers are only trying to create panic among people. “We have already seen it several times, two years ago: wheat will run out, flour and bread will cost 200 crowns. It’s a very similar story. The price of cocoa is rising. On the other hand, the price of chocolate includes the price of milk, energy during production, and human labor. So, although the basic raw material will increase, the impact on the price can be three, five, seven percent. In addition, the chocolate that reaches the counter today or in a month is made from cheap cocoa, and the impact will not come until maybe a year from now. What we see is rather an effort by manufacturers to say that they cannot make it cheaper” the president of the Trade and Tourism Association calms the situation.
Cheaper Easter feasting
According to the latest information, this Easter should be the second cheapest in history. The year-on-year drop in prices of typical Easter foods is said to be extraordinary. For example, butter and eggs became cheaper. According to Prouza, the drop in prices will continue in the coming months. “Food prices are decreasing, already in January, in February it was – 5.5% compared to February 2023, and the decrease undoubtedly has room to continue. We can see how the prices of most agricultural commodities, except for the mentioned cocoa, are falling, and this must quickly start to be reflected in the prices of suppliers. So the discounting at the beginning of the year was no exception, but for the next few months prices will go down rather than up,” he described.
Can current food prices be maintained at their current levels in the long term? “Yes, but perhaps we need to be much stricter in how the Czech state uses national subsidies. Today, the vast majority of money is just wasted and the state doesn’t even want anything for it,Prouza stated that, for example, for two billion crowns, the state should demand higher quality or a lower price.
Purchases in Poland are no longer paid
In recent weeks, there have been many reports that shopping in Poland will no longer be so advantageous for Czechs. After Easter, the value-added tax on basic foodstuffs should increase there, from zero to five percent. According to Prouza, we already see today that shopping with neighbors is not so advantageous. “The VAT may only accentuate it. Food prices in the Czech Republic have been falling for the past few months. In Poland, prices are still about three to five percent more expensive. They are closing back the scissors we had here, and at the same time the exchange rate between the koruna and the zloty is much less favorable than it was a year ago. When you add it all up, add time to it, if you don’t live just over the border, then in the end it’s not cheaper to go to Poland. Unfortunately, the only place where people still save a lot is cigarettes, because the Czech consumption tax is completely different from its surroundings,concluded the president of the Trade and Tourism Association.
