Coffee in particular is becoming more expensive
Aldi increases prices significantly
03/17/2022, 5:25 p.m
The Omicron wave, the lack of truck drivers and the Ukraine war caused the purchase prices for food to skyrocket. Aldi is now passing the price increases on to its customers: Around 400 groceries and drugstore items are becoming more expensive. Other dealers could follow.
The prices in the German food trade are moving more and more. Aldi is currently increasing prices across the board and is thus passing on the manufacturers’ price increases as a result of the Corona crisis and the Ukraine war to customers, reported the trade journal “Lebensmittel Zeitung”. According to research by the specialist journal, around 400 articles are affected. Such a wave of price increases has not existed for years.
Aldi basically confirmed the price increases. “Where the costs of purchasing change due to the current market situation, we too have to increase the sales prices,” said a company spokesman on behalf of Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd. The step of the discounter is also of great importance because experience has shown that many retailers in the entry-level price segment are based on Aldi’s prices.
Competitor Lidl was initially unable to comment on possible price increases. The Aldi spokesman explained that the market situation has been shaped for months by ongoing challenges in international sea freight, the Omicron wave, the fundamental international shortage of truck drivers and the increased costs for energy and raw materials. The situation was aggravated by the war in Ukraine. This leads to rising purchase prices for many products. It is part of the discounter model that Aldi reduces sales prices when purchase prices fall and increases sales prices when purchase prices rise. “We would like to point out that our margins will not change as a result of this step.”
Some products are a euro more expensive
According to “Lebensmittel Zeitung”, the price jumps vary depending on the product. Sometimes it’s about 10 cents, other items would be one euro more expensive. The price jumps for coffee are particularly striking. However, various drugstore items, baked goods, detergents, salty snacks and frozen products have also become more expensive.
Numerous sectors had recently asked retailers to raise prices, partly because of the high energy and raw material costs and increased logistics expenses. On Thursday, for example, the potato processing industry demanded a “recalculation” from retailers. In addition to the exorbitantly high energy prices, the industry is also hit by price increases due to the shortage of important agricultural raw materials such as sunflower oil and rapeseed oil, the Federal Association of the Fruit, Vegetable and Potato Processing Industry complained.
The Central Association of German Bakers had previously warned that the Ukraine crisis and the Russian export ban on wheat, rye and barley that has been in effect since Tuesday are driving up grain prices. Bakers are also concerned about rising energy costs. It is foreseeable that the bakeries will have to pass the higher prices on to the customers.
The meat industry also complained about the exploding costs and wants more money from Edeka, Rewe, Aldi and Co. for their products. However, according to the Federal Statistical Office, consumer prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages in February were already 5.1 percent above the previous year’s level.