Food industry selling prices higher than ever

Output prices in the food industry rose by 9.3 percent in August this year compared to August last year. Among the factors responsible for the high record prices were persistently high price increases in the edible oils and fats industry. Prices on the domestic market also rose faster than prices charged to foreign customers in August.  This emerged from an analysis of recent CBS figures by our editors.

Above-average price increase in three branches

Three of the nine branches of the food industry identified by Statistics Netherlands exceeded the average price increase of 9.3 percent in the food industry in August. The highest price increases were recorded in the food oils and fats industry (+30.4 percent). This is followed by the slaughterhouses and meat products industry and the animal feed industry. Output prices in both sectors rose by 15.0 percent in August. Output prices in the dairy industry rose by 5.2 percent, while prices in the fruit and vegetable processing industry (+1.3 percent), the bread and pasta industry (+1.2 percent) and the fish processing industry (+0.2 percent) hardly budged.

Increase in domestic selling prices in particular

Domestic prices rose more than foreign prices in nearly all branches of the food industry in August. The exception was the fruit and vegetable processing industry, where domestic prices rose by 0.6 percent in August and export prices by 1.8 percent. Sectors where the difference in the rate of increase between domestic and foreign prices was considerable in August are the slaughterhouses and meat processing industry (domestic price increase +19.1 percent versus foreign price increase +11.9 percent) and the fish processing industry (domestic price increase +4.9 percent, foreign price increase -0.6 percent). The average domestic price increase in the food industry was +12.0 percent in August, foreign customers had to pay 6.9 percent more for products from the food industry.