Eat sold: a set of products for the New Year's table - 2024 rose in price by 11.4%
The cost of a set of basic products for the New Year's table this year amounted to just over Br8.1 thousand, it has grown by 11.4%, as calculated by Rusprodsoyuz. The list includes salads, sausage and cheese cuts, tangerines, candies and champagne. The leader of growth was butter, which in November added 31% over the year. Among the cheaper products is chicken meat, which lost 7% of its price. Such dynamics should not confuse consumers, the trade is sure. This year differs from previous years by the revival of demand in almost all categories, noted in ACORT.
What people buy for the New Year
Rusprodsoyuz, an association of major producers, has calculated the cost of 19 products that Russians buy for the New Year's table: in 2024, it will be necessary to spend about 8.1 thousand rubles on this set. This money will be spent on the necessary ingredients for traditional salads - "Herring under a fur coat" and "Olivier", sandwiches with red caviar and butter, chicken meat, cuts of cheese and raw smoked sausage, tangerines, champagne, as well as chocolates. Experts considered the cost of ingredients per 1 kg, except for a pack of mayonnaise, a can of peas and a bottle of champagne.
- "Usually a standard set of products for the New Year's table includes ingredients for salads, a hot dish, and appetizers," Dmitry Leonov, deputy chairman of the board of the association, added to Izvestia. - Many consumers make cheese and sausage cuts, also tangerines and champagne are traditionally present on the New Year's table. In addition, many families with children buy juices and candies for the New Year's table.
According to the data for November, this list has increased in price by 11.4% over the year. Butter has increased in price the most from the New Year's food basket - by 31.3%, up to Br1 thousand per 1 kg, while, for example, poultry meat has become the cheapest compared to other ingredients - by 7%, up to Br214.5 per 1 kg. The most expensive items will be raw smoked sausage (Br1.2 thousand/kg), salmon fish (Br1.2 thousand/kg), chocolate candies (just over Br900) and cheese (Br840). Vegetables, peas, chicken eggs and juices cost the least.
- The key reason for the rise in butter prices is the growth of production costs along the whole chain from raw materials to the shelf," explained the expert. - There were other factors that put pressure on the total cost of products. For example, back in August, milk prices went up to 20%, logistics - by 30-35%. The process was also affected by the growth of the key rate, inflation and other factors," he said. - Whereas poultry meat is getting cheaper, which is primarily due to the active increase in production this year. For example, the cost of this product in the wholesale sector in the IV quarter of 2023 reached record highs, and already in the I quarter of 2024 began to decline, the process accelerated in July-August and continues to this day.
How retailers reduce prices for the holiday
The general rise in the price of products for the New Year's table will not confuse buyers, the trade is confident. The year 2024 differs from the previous years by the revival of demand in almost all categories, so this season retailers are likely to record positive dynamics of sales of food and beverages for the celebration, Igor Karavaev, chairman of the presidium of the Association of Retail Trade Companies (ACORT), told Izvestia.
- Prices for popular products for the New Year's table in large retail chains have changed within the limits of annual food inflation, on average at the level of 9-10%. In periods of high demand, retailers and manufacturers hold promotions, offering the most popular products at discounts, providing a level of prices comparable to the previous year, - he said. - For example, the minimum cost of a can of peas weighing 400 g in large retail chains is Br34.9, a pack of mayonnaise weighing 200 g - Br25, 1 kg of mandarins - Br149.99. The cost of salted pink salmon starts from 150 rubles for a package weighing 130 g.
Trade networks are expanding the available supply of popular products with the help of such tools as their own brands, promotions with domestic producers, said the expert. This allows consumers with any budget to make a variety of purchases for the New Year, he said.
Prices for the most popular products from the lower price segment are really stable, including because they are held by large chain retailers, Vadim Kovrigin, deputy director of the Institute of Economics, Management and Law of Moscow State Pedagogical University, told Izvestia. The networks are interested in attracting customer traffic, including by keeping cheap products from the basic basket. This year the situation is more complicated, in certain categories, such as, for example, oil or potatoes, "the price increase is long and impressive." So far we can talk about signs of its slowdown, but the cheapening ruble and the continuing growth of producers' costs may make negative adjustments to prices already after the New Year holidays, he believes.
According to official statistics for November, inflation amounted to 8.78% in annual terms, while food inflation is slightly higher - around 9%, said Georgy Ostapkovich, Director of the Center for Conjunctural Research at the Institute of Economic Research of the National Research University Higher School of Economics.
Despite this, the New Year's table went up in price by an average of 11%, which is higher than these values, which can also be explained, the expert noted. Every year, some products become more expensive at a faster pace. This year they were butter and potatoes, whose dynamics is many times higher than food inflation, he said. Moreover, already in September, the Russian Federation depletes its own stocks of vegetables and the country switches to more expensive imports, which also pushes prices up.
