site.btaConsumer Protection Association: Electricity, Fuel Hikes Push Food Prices Up

August 24 (BTA) - The appreciation of electricity and
fuels has pushed food prices up and has boosted inflation,
Consumer Protection Association (CPA) Chairman Peyo Mayorski
said, quoted by the NGO in a press release on Tuesday.

A CPA survey found that food prices have gone up by an average
of 5 per cent since May 2021, most appreciably for cooking oil,
dairy and meat products, sugar and flour. "Producers use fuels
and electricity as inputs, and their high prices have an
immediate impact on the finished food products," Mayorski
pointed out. He noted that even vegetables and fruit are more
expensive this summer due to the higher cost of transport
services.

The CPA Chairman expects a possible further price rise for
staple foods in the autumn and winter because of the hikes of
electricity and fuel. Petrol and diesel prices are at their
highest level since the start of the pandemic, and their effect
will probably continue to spread down the chain, Mayorski
predicts.

In his words, the increase  of food prices will vary by the
extent to which the production process depends on power supply
and the ability of business to cover rising costs flexibly.

The appreciation will erode households' purchasing power in the
autumn and winter, as they will have to spend more of their
income on foods and heat, the press release says.

The new prices of electricity, fuels, natural gas and heat will
make themselves felt to households in a couple of months' time,
at the start of the heating season, and users of centrally
supplied heating and hot water will be hit worst, Mayorsky said.
 RY/LG

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