Food prices in Germany - Tell me what you want to know

[DaveF]

I guess the questions are what WERE the prices vs what are the prices and what is availability REALLY like.
Obviously there is a lot of oil on those shelves BUT was there 2x of it last week was the €2 bottle €1 last week?

The market is not that volatile to compare the price with last week. You should compare it over the long term like with the prices last year. Just like bitcoin price, in short term it looks like it is dumping or mooning but when you "zoom out" and ignore the bubbles you'd see a nice uptrend.

Since I have been saving receipts I went through a bunch from Sept 21 and Sept 22
Looking at a 1 to 1 compare i.e. if I bought it in Target Sept 21 I am looking for it in Target Sept 22 if I bought it in ShopRite Sept 21 I am looking for the same purchase in Sept 22. Comparing across stores is pointless.

Orange Juice = Same
English Muffins = Same
Frozen lunches = See above some went up a lot some went down an equal amount.
Chocolate = Up a lot BUT the on sale price is the same
Maple syrup = down a bit
Bananas = down a bit
Cereal = up a lot $1.19 to $1.49
Frozen chicken = Up about 7%+
Canned soup = up about 10%+
'Cheap' pasta = down about 20%
'Good' pasta = same
fresh pasta = up about 5%
[Can you tell I eat a lot of pasta....]

Everything else was not bought at the same store so I can't compare fairly.

What I AM seeing now is 'weekend pricing' a good cut of meat that is $18/lb on Wednesday is $24/lb Fri-Sun and when you walk back into the store the same meat is back to $18 Monday morning.
And from another thread I started a few years ago:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5254433.msg60867142#msg60867142

I really think that YES prices are up a bit, but people are really going into a panic because they don't want to change their habits.  Buy the steak you want for Saturday on Thursday, don't just go to the 1st gas station you see. etc.

Nothing wrong with the businesses doing it, they are entitled to make as much money as they want.

-Dave

Edit had a * instead of the + (typo)
Also, I think the bit of the + is to have the cost end in a 9. i.e. they didn't need to go from $1.79 to $1.99 for the soup but 10% would bring it to $1.97 so add $0.02 for more profit and call it a day....

[stompix]

They seem well stocked with oil and as the above post said, exports were halted and have returned since (after a few deals with struck) - I think it was the same for grain too and with similar prosperity after the "deals" that were made or alternative imports routes were found.

Or, or, bear with me and watch this totally borderline madness idea, or maybe not to weird

Maybe it's because in reality the EU alone produces as many sunflower seeds for oil as Russia does?
https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QCL
It's a pain in the ass to link to that table from them on just production by country on a smartphone but trust me, it's the same.
And not only we do produce the same amount but we mainly use rapeseed oil:

In 2021, the leading country of sunflower seed oil consumption was the EU-27. That year, domestic consumption of this oil in the EU-27 exceeded five million metric tons
In 2021, the leading country of rapeseed oil consumption was the EU-27. That year, the EU-27 consumed approximately 8.8 million metric tons of rapeseed oil.

And again, weirdly enough, the EU is the largest producer of rapeseed in the world after Canada.
Let's throw in the fact that southern counties use also olive oil and now we have the perfect ingredients why this was just a toilet paper shortage panic?
Maybe, maybe?   

Perhaps the Europeans should ask former Chancellor Merkel and her team why they persisted with Russian energy sources even after 2014

The moment I can go past security pretending the silencer on my rifle is a microphone I promise you I will ask her! Oh, should I wait for the answer?

[uneng]

Considering Germany is a first world country where people are supposed to have better wages and access to higher quality products the prices are similar to the ones I find in my third world country where quality of goods is much inferior. Here a bottle of oil 900ml (not olive oil) is about 3$. Olive oil 500ml must be around 3$ as well. And these are the cheapest options at the cheapest supermarkets disponible. If you want your food more tasty and delicious you have to purchase higher quality oils, of course.

News claim expensive prices are due to war, but I guess it's due to greed from producers who want to take advantage of the world's scenario to make extra profit.

Germany, the European countries are affected and they are paying more for everything when the war comes but I think that is still nothing compared to the 3rd world countries you and I live in. An 8-hour workday is almost impossible to feed a family with three meals and this has been the case for many years, many places are struggling with food shortages.

Yes, purchasing power is decreasing so overwhelmingly these days. This phenomenon is more evident than ever and even the first world countries can't escape this sad reality. What I don't understand very well is why products like oil are so expensive here in my country, because the territory is vast and the country is known for feeding the world through food exportation of every kinds. Theoretically there should be surplus of production for us here, consequently leading to cheaper prices, but that is not what happens for real. That is why I concluded expensive prices must be due to producers' greediness.

You can also buy cooking oil, that's happiness, in the countryside where I live now many families have to use lard to replace cooking oil. There's much worse that we don't know because we've never heard of it.

Personally I've never used lard, but I know some people here who use it in a daily basis and recommend more than cooking oil. They also claim it is more healthy and grant the food more flavour. Interesting that lard here is more expensive than cooking oil. 1 kilogram is about 3,70$ to 5$ (dollar currency).

[paxmao]

Petrol and Diesel prices in Germany as of yesterday:



Is there any product in the German supermarkets you want to know the price of? Or any other thing? Because some people here think that Germany is fucked and there is no way to escape and we are all gonna freeze to death, so the situation isn't like that and quality of life here is still high

F**ck, that is cheap compared to what I pay where I live now. I should be learning German, Ja.

[Synchronice]

Petrol and Diesel prices in Germany as of yesterday:



Is there any product in the German supermarkets you want to know the price of? Or any other thing? Because some people here think that Germany is fucked and there is no way to escape and we are all gonna freeze to death, so the situation isn't like that and quality of life here is still high

F**ck, that is cheap compared to what I pay where I live now. I should be learning German, Ja.

But learning German itself is a pain in the ass

[Marvell1]

I am wondering on what basis they are changing the pack prices on periodic basis? Like how do the stores know it’s time to upgrade the label this week?

The question is why are we just seeing the price upgrades in the Germany only? Every now and then I can see it’s only Germany everyone talking about. Why other EU regions are not in the mentions.

Does the Germany has Special relationship with the on going war or something?

Stores are also just an intermediary to bring products to consumers, once the manufacturer increases the price, the store must increase the price to make a profit.

In the EU region, Germany is perhaps the hardest hit country as it is largely dependent on Russian gas and now they only receive 6% of the gas supply after the Nord Stream pipeline was broken by crooks, they are having a headache to find an alternative gas source.

OP said he moved from Ireland to Germany which means OP is living in Germany so he can only update us on the situation in Germany.

[jackg]

They seem well stocked with oil and as the above post said, exports were halted and have returned since (after a few deals with struck) - I think it was the same for grain too and with similar prosperity after the "deals" that were made or alternative imports routes were found.

Or, or, bear with me and watch this totally borderline madness idea, or maybe not to weird

Maybe it's because in reality the EU alone produces as many sunflower seeds for oil as Russia does?
https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QCL
It's a pain in the ass to link to that table from them on just production by country on a smartphone but trust me, it's the same.
And not only we do produce the same amount but we mainly use rapeseed oil:

In 2021, the leading country of sunflower seed oil consumption was the EU-27. That year, domestic consumption of this oil in the EU-27 exceeded five million metric tons
In 2021, the leading country of rapeseed oil consumption was the EU-27. That year, the EU-27 consumed approximately 8.8 million metric tons of rapeseed oil.

And again, weirdly enough, the EU is the largest producer of rapeseed in the world after Canada.
Let's throw in the fact that southern counties use also olive oil and now we have the perfect ingredients why this was just a toilet paper shortage panic?
Maybe, maybe?   

I do remember that Greece used to be the largest producer of olive oil in the world (they got overtaken by another EU country fairly recently if I'm remembering that right).

Olive and rapeseed oil are the two main ones that get used in the UK imo. Rapeseed is grown quite a lot here too because its oil is quite useful - it's potentially legal to water down diesel with it in newer vehicles or run older vehicles directly off it. There's a chance it could've been cheaper too if we're going off last year's prices when I paid £1.54 for a litre.

Olive oil has a history of being used in oil lamps too in the UK. Rapeseed can serve similar functions to both sunflower oil and butter too (a lot of it gets used to make butter spreads).

I'll have to trust your stats as I'm without a PC for a few days and my phone will be awful at displaying those CSVs. I'm surprised the EU is doing similar tactics to the UK though to drive up prices....

[DaveF]

In the EU region, Germany is perhaps the hardest hit country as it is largely dependent on Russian gas and now they only receive 6% of the gas supply after the Nord Stream pipeline was broken by crooks, they are having a headache to find an alternative gas source.

Since I don't know how CNG distribution in the EU and I can't find anything about it, how is distribution done? Is everyone linked or are there 'blocks' of countries that gas does not pass through?

When you see multiple headlines like this:

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/26/energy/europe-natural-gas-prices-plunge/index.html
https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/10/25/energy-crisis-europes-gas-prices-fall-below-100-mwh-for-the-first-time-since-mid-june

It makes you wonder how bad the situation really is all over OR is it because some countries are separate and Germany has no gas in storage and empty tanks but they can't pull from the full ones in the Netherlands?

-Dave

[stompix]

In the EU region, Germany is perhaps the hardest hit country as it is largely dependent on Russian gas and now they only receive 6% of the gas supply after the Nord Stream pipeline was broken by crooks, they are having a headache to find an alternative gas source.

Since I don't know how CNG distribution in the EU and I can't find anything about it, how is distribution done? Is everyone linked or are there 'blocks' of countries that gas does not pass through?

Everything is linked together with a few problems:
https://globalenergymonitor.org/projects/europe-gas-tracker/tracker-map/

The main problem is the capacity of some pipes, for example, the biggest obstacle is from Spain to France or Italy, in the past Spain which is a net importer had zero reasons to export or import gas from western Europe, now with its LNG capacity it can do so more than the pipes can take.
Also, the price fluctuates due to demand, it's not something extraordinary at all for a heat wave to hit one part of the continent and cold rainy weather on the other, so the prices will do the same, we had negative prices for a few hours in the Netherlands just like the US
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-25/west-texas-gas-prices-go-negative-for-first-time-in-2-years
There was just too much gas being pumped and no demand in other countries at all, themselves filling deposits at record levels, basically France has no storing capacity left at this point.

It makes you wonder how bad the situation really is all over OR is it because some countries are separate and Germany has no gas in storage and empty tanks but they can't pull from the full ones in the Netherlands?

https://agsi.gie.eu

Every country has enough gas right now, the problem is the price as some have bought like mad while the price was 5 times this level and they are unwilling to spend it unless it goes a bit up, waiting for winter but at the same time having full deposits and not been able to buy and pump in cheaper gas.
That's what panic does, you end up with more expensive stuff than you actually needed at all.

[bitgolden]

Germany, the European countries are affected and they are paying more for everything when the war comes but I think that is still nothing compared to the 3rd world countries you and I live in. An 8-hour workday is almost impossible to feed a family with three meals and this has been the case for many years, many places are struggling with food shortages. You can also buy cooking oil, that's happiness, in the countryside where I live now many families have to use lard to replace cooking oil. There's much worse that we don't know because we've never heard of it.

The funny thing about Germany is that they are having one of the better inflation problems compared to other nations, there are nations with 50%+ inflation and they are not overreacting this much.

The reason for that is the fact that the nations with 50% inflation wasn't managed properly to begin with, they were having trouble even before any of this, whereas Germany was managed very well, it was a nation that lived like kings and everyone there lived happily. We weren't happy 10 years ago, we weren't happy 5 or 20 years ago neither, but they were at least happy and they lived good. Now that they are having just a bit of trouble, they think that it’s unliveable and they cannot buy food.

By calculation we can't even eat 3 meals a day with our minimum wage, and it’s funny Germans think they are getting poorer... 3 meals a day is too expensive in my nation, and I am not even talking about anything else, just 3 meals, imagine all the other things. So Germans are fine, they are just overreacting.

[tyKiwanuka]

Which reminds me, how much is a kilowatt/hour of electricity in Germany? And the average utility bill (not particularly yours) if you don't mind sharing. And if heat is billed separately then that too.

Electricity is starting from around 0.5+ Euro per kWh for new contracts, most people are sitting on their running contracts though, which has a price guarantee for 1 year or longer and is maybe half of that. But if price guarantee of your contract runs out, you will have to pay 0.5+ now, so double or more of what you paid before.

Gas is around 0.2+ Euro per kWh for new contracts, price guarantee for running contracts as well, where most people pay between 0.05-0.1 per kWh I guess. With the government lowering the VAT on gas, paying the gas bills for December for every household and introducing some cap on the price starting some time next year, the bills should double as well max. Around 50% of houses use gas for heating.

By calculation we can't even eat 3 meals a day with our minimum wage, and it’s funny Germans think they are getting poorer... 3 meals a day is too expensive in my nation, and I am not even talking about anything else, just 3 meals, imagine all the other things. So Germans are fine, they are just overreacting.

Always depends what is your standard; being forced to lower your standard doesn't sit well with anyone. If you used to have a car and now have to go by bike, you will feel bad. If you used to (or had to) go by foot and now have a bike, you will feel like a king. Both use the same means of transportation, but it's still not the same for both

I agree though that germans are spoiled.

[el kaka22]

It’s going to be a big discussion with absolutely no end to a fairly good result, it's just a bit of a time required deal and when enough time passes we are going to see this problem solved too. The problem we have is not oil, it's not food, it's not anything else, it's not being ready for these type of things.

There is no a single country in the world that is self-sufficient in everything, and when something happens they are left with a chaos and a problem and they don't know what to do and do not have an alternative to put forth right away. This is why anytime any problem happens, we just need to wait for governments to fix it, that’s the only solution we have and we have nothing else we can do.

[coolcoinz]

Petrol and Diesel prices in Germany as of yesterday:



Is there any product in the German supermarkets you want to know the price of? Or any other thing? Because some people here think that Germany is fucked and there is no way to escape and we are all gonna freeze to death, so the situation isn't like that and quality of life here is still high

If you live close to the Polish border you can get your gas from your neighbor. They have it much cheaper so it might be worth a trip. They have it for 1.4 EUR and the current average in Germany is 1.9 EUR.

The problem with gas is that the prices were growing fast even before the war and due to virus lockdowns in 2021 that lowered the demand the prices should've went down but they didn't.
The oil market is greatly manipulated. On one hand you have the Saudis that want to make the most money even if it means starving some countries and on the other the green lobby that wants the world to drive their expensive electric cars.

[kro55]

~~

Yes, purchasing power is decreasing so overwhelmingly these days. This phenomenon is more evident than ever and even the first world countries can't escape this sad reality. What I don't understand very well is why products like oil are so expensive here in my country, because the territory is vast and the country is known for feeding the world through food exportation of every kinds. Theoretically there should be surplus of production for us here, consequently leading to cheaper prices, but that is not what happens for real. That is why I concluded expensive prices must be due to producers' greediness.

Manufacturers are also human and greed always exists in us, can't blame them, benefits must always come first in business. If we were in their position, I believe we would do the same. Similar to oil, OPEC+ has also announced production cuts to keep oil prices high even though they are very rich countries compared to other countries. But it's a business opportunity they won't easily pass up.

You can also buy cooking oil, that's happiness, in the countryside where I live now many families have to use lard to replace cooking oil. There's much worse that we don't know because we've never heard of it.

Personally I've never used lard, but I know some people here who use it in a daily basis and recommend more than cooking oil. They also claim it is more healthy and grant the food more flavour. Interesting that lard here is more expensive than cooking oil. 1 kilogram is about 3,70$ to 5$ (dollar currency).

In my country it is the opposite, wealthy families will use vegetable oil instead of lard because it is good for health. Lard is more difficult to store and most pork is considered a cheaper commodity than other foods.

[stompix]

Germany is the only country in Europe where prices in grocery stores are not divided by a percentage called 'Value Added Tax' or 'VAT'.

Where did you get this idea from?
There is no country in Europe without VAT and there is no country in EU that do so, there is an EU directive that puts limits to both how low and how high this can go in order to harmonize taxes.
Germany has a standard 19% VAT and a 9% VAT for foodstuff.
Also, prices are not "divided" by VAT anywhere, it's value added tax, the name spells it for you.

The funny thing about Germany is that they are having one of the better inflation problems compared to other nations, there are nations with 50%+ inflation and they are not overreacting this much.

Actually, the ones overreacting are the ones outside Germany and Europe who are already picturing Europeans freezing to death, starving with no food, with their economies crushing, and so on and on. In reality, one should watch live cams from the summer when the beaches were full, hotels, highways, cinemas, malls, pubs, and clubs were full, there are 100x times more Russians overreacting about this than Europeans.

[Synchronice]

I workout and mainly I consume foods high in protein and low in carb/fat, to say shortly. This kind of food is mostly expensive compared to the what average person eats, so I wanna share with you what I bought for 19.32 Euro.

P.S. One high protein chocolate pudding is missing in the picture

[DrBeer]

ps Is there anyone here from the Baltics or Greece? Tell me if everything is fine with the prices in supermarkets.

Everything is extremely simple - a link to the price list in the ordinary Estonian network of Maxim
https://www.maxima.ee/uploads/releases/pdf/Nr;43(25.10-31.10.2022)-9626.pdf

In doing so, we take into account:
- The MINIMUM salary is 654 euros per month, from January 1, 2023 it will increase by 11% and will be 725. Once again, this is the MINIMUM salary.
- The average gross salary in Estonia in December 2021 is €1,756 and net (after taxes) €1,392.45.
- As of 2022, the average state old-age pension in Estonia is 595 euros per month.
- From June 1, 2022, the living wage for a single person or the first family member is 200 euros per month.

And there is no oil, no gas, no "50% of the world's resources"

[Leviathan.007]

I think it's not just talking about Germany or some other countries in Europe because of the inflation rate and the food crisis all over the world many countries are facing problems with food prices and the increasing the food price all over the world is clear these days, in many undeveloped countries they even have deeper and worst problems with food prices but even a county like Germany is not really far from this crisis and there you see how the prices are increasing because of this crisis in all over the world.

[zasad@]

ps Is there anyone here from the Baltics or Greece? Tell me if everything is fine with the prices in supermarkets.

Everything is extremely simple - a link to the price list in the ordinary Estonian network of Maxim
https://www.maxima.ee/uploads/releases/pdf/Nr;43(25.10-31.10.2022)-9626.pdf

In doing so, we take into account:
- The MINIMUM salary is 654 euros per month, from January 1, 2023 it will increase by 11% and will be 725. Once again, this is the MINIMUM salary.
- The average gross salary in Estonia in December 2021 is €1,756 and net (after taxes) €1,392.45.
- As of 2022, the average state old-age pension in Estonia is 595 euros per month.
- From June 1, 2022, the living wage for a single person or the first family member is 200 euros per month.

And there is no oil, no gas, no "50% of the world's resources"

In Russia, the living wage for a pensioner is more than 200 euros, and for an able-bodied person about 300 euros.
In Russia, food is cheaper, and it is very hard to live on this money.
How much do communal utilities for an apartment cost in Estonia?

[Adbitco]

This is not just limited to Germany but also all over the world as one major thing that affects the poor, basically in my country within my state precisely food has been one major problem affecting people around barely they feeds on three square meal a day, the poor can't afford to buy food stuff for feeding which basically includes; Rice, Beans, Onion, Red Meat, cooking Oil and many more, or even to eat at the restaurant you spend at least $1 to $5 to my local currency is very huge, which a dollar is about 1 equal to 867 NGN in Binance p2p currently, and our Government are not really helping matters rather than focusing on their political ambition spending money for their campaign giveaway cars to their supporters while the poor keeps dying.