Economic analysts estimate that people may notice a hike in food prices as early as this autumn or winter, Poštová Banka analyst Eva Sadovská reported on Monday, September 24.
The main causes of significant price growth include the long drought and increases in the input costs of food producers caused, for example, by rising oil prices. According to Poštová Banka's estimates, the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages could go up by 6-8 percent year-on-year, while the figure for January-June 2012 stood at 4 percent.
The TASR newswire quoted the Tatra Banka analyst Boris Fojtík as saying that food prices are expected to rise over the entire year by 5 percent on average, which is much higher than the usual 3-3.5 percent. The most significant price hikes are expected for bread and cereals. Conversely, the prices of sweets will probably stay put, as the prices of goods such as coffee, cacao and sugar are lower than they were last year.
(Source: TASR)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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