In the shops, you can see how Finns cope with rising food prices at Christmas.
23.12. 16:47
Christmas it’s Christmas again, it’s Christmas again
pots full of porridge.
Now you get it, now you get it,
his stomach full of porridge.
The verses that many care about on Christmas Eve may not be true this year. Food prices have been on an unprecedented rise for many, which is also reflected in the Christmas table.
Read more: With these tips, you can conjure up Christmas treats for less and get the most out of the leftovers
Let’s start with Christmas preparations. Christmas includes gingerbread, tarts and many kinds of desserts. Several raw materials used for baking rose significantly in price in November. For example, flour has become more expensive by almost 48 percent, butter by 38 percent and sugar by 13 percent.
The change is also clear at store checkouts.
“In baking as a whole [hintojen nousulla] has had some effect. Customers have moved towards more affordable products”, says the purchasing and sales director of trading company Kesko Aki Erkkilä.
“The consumer has now been more precise in his choices.”
Also the sales director of SOK’s convenience store Antti Oksa confirms that products with the cheapest kilo prices are now moving off the shelves more often than before. For example, in mulled wine and canapes, the choices focus more often than in recent years on so-called traditional volume products instead of more expensive specialties or artisanal products. The same phenomenon can be seen, for example, in cheeses.
“Traditional favorites of a large crowd, for example, Panda’s Juhlasdæði’s pretzels are selling better than last year, and the same can be seen from product group to other,” says Oksa.
In addition to looking for cheaper alternatives, according to Oksa, customers have said that they plan the Christmas table so that there is no waste.
“The hardest sales days are now Thursday and Friday, but people have indicated in advance in surveys that they are looking for ways to save on Christmas food.”
Christmas at that time Finns also enjoyed more chocolate than usual. In November, the price of chocolate rose by more than 10 percent year-on-year, and the price of sweets by 11.6 percent.
Kesko’s Erkkilä says that this year, sales of sweets around Christmas have been lower than last year. For example, sales of Christmas calendars have waned. However, he emphasizes that last year’s sales growth was very strong.
Instead, according to Oksa, chocolate has been sold in the S group like last year. He believes that the reason for the difference between the chains may be precisely the increase in price awareness.
A large part of Christmas food shopping is done very close to Christmas, and there is no more detailed information about Christmas sales yet.
Christmas table traditional delicacies include lantu, carrot and potato box. Root vegetables have become more expensive in November by 7.4 percent compared to a year ago, and other vegetables by 28 percent. The price of potatoes has increased by 12 percent.
As a friend of the boxes, Christmas ham is of course eaten at several Christmas tables. HS said earlier this week that Christmas ham can now cost tens of percent more than last year.
In addition to ham, the Christmas table is crowned by fish, the prices of which have also seen big increases. The price of fish rose in November by more than 24 percent compared to November last year.
Cheese prices have also risen more than a quarter since last year.
For example, apples, berries and dried fruits and nuts have become more expensive than general food inflation. The prices of these have increased by about a few percent. Pears are even slightly cheaper.
Also on the drink side, you can generally reach almost the same prices as a year ago. According to Statistics Finland, the price of wine was three percent more expensive in November than a year earlier. Spirits, on the other hand, became more expensive by about one percent.
Alko tells HS that there have been no changes in the shopping behavior of customers in long-stripes now that Christmas. The average price of products bought from Alko usually rises during the Christmas season, as it did this year.
The prices of Christmas sauna drinks, i.e. cider and lager, also rose by a couple of percent in November.
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