Food industry selling prices continue to rise

Output prices in the Dutch food industry are rising at an ever-increasing rate. The increase of 14.2 percent in January 2022 was again more than the record increase of December 2021 (+11.3 percent). The sharp rise in the prices of energy, raw materials and transport are the reason for the ever-increasing rate of increase in sales prices. And there seems to be no end in sight as the Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused gas and oil prices to explode further and raw materials to become increasingly expensive as well. The increase in the sales prices of the total industry was significantly higher than that of the food industry, at almost 21 per cent. This is evident from an analysis of recent CBS figures by our editors.

Prices make biggest leap in fruit and vegetable processing industry and flour industry

In the fruit and vegetable processing industry, price increases did not exceed 1.2 percent in 2021. In January 2022, however, the modest price movements of 2021 gave way to a huge price jump to +8.6 percent compared to January 2021. Prices charged to foreign buyers of fruit and vegetable products were particularly buoyant (+11.1 percent). Domestic customers were charged "only" 4.6 percent more.  Prices in the flour industry also accelerated in January 2022. Output prices in the flour industry rose by 8.7 percent in December 2021, but in January 2022 the price increase doubled to an unprecedented 17.1 percent. In the sugar industry, too, the rate of increase in sales prices doubled: in December 2021, prices rose by 6.0 percent and in January 2022 by 11.8 percent. The slaughterhouses and meat products industry was the only branch in the food industry where prices rose less in January 2022 (+16.2 percent) than in December 2021 (+17.0 percent).

Domestic customers in particular more expensive

Output prices in the Dutch food industry rose by more than 15.6 percent in January 2022 in the Netherlands and by more than 12.9 percent in other countries. The fruit and vegetable processing industry (sales prices abroad up 11.1 percent), the fish processing industry (up 6.4 percent), the edible oils and fats industry (up 28.4 percent) and the sugar industry (up 13.0 percent) were the only sectors where prices rose more in other countries than in the Netherlands. 

Output prices manufacturing industry up 20.9 percent

The average increase in output prices in manufacturing industry was 20.9 percent in January 2022. Output prices in the petroleum industry rose by nearly 70 percent, in the chemical and basic metal industries by 41.3 and 46.1 percent respectively. The average price increase in the paper industry (+25.8 percent) and the wood industry (+19.4 percent) was also much higher than in the food industry. The tobacco industry was the only sector where prices fell in January 2022 compared to January of the previous year.