Easter prices unjustifiably high

The price of fruit and vegetables has gone up for the Easter holidays but neither weather nor demand appears to justify how much it is costing the consumers.

Even though there were no frosty weather conditions this year, Easter holiday prices of fruit and vegetables are much higher compared to 2017, according to Polys Kattasis, president of the Pancyprian Association of Fruit Market Owners.

Greenhouse cucumbers on Easter Monday were priced at €2.30 per kilo this year while last year they were selling at only €1.50, based on a price list that Kattasis shared with the media. But there was no change in the price of field-grown cucumbers, which are selling at €2.50 in 2018 just like last year, according to the price list. Tomatoes were being sold at €2.50 per kilo on Easter Monday last year while the price this year is €2.80.

Consumer beware

Yiorgos Stylianou, a consumer advocate group representative, told online daily Kathimerini that there is a lack of transparency in how prices are set for fruit and vegetables. He also called on consumers to pay particular attention at the cashier check out, making sure that special offer prices are truly honoured at the cash register.

The price of eggplant has doubled, from €1 per kilo last year to €2 on Easter Monday in 2018. A similar price increase is also true for zucchini, with white zucchini sold at €3 this year compared to €1.50 last year and black zucchini jumping from €1 to €3.

Kolokasi also has doubled in price this year, with one kilo of taro costing €2 this year compared to only €1 in 2017.

On the cheaper side of things, potatoes fell from €1.30 last year to only €0.80 on Easter Monday. There was also no increase in the price of meat.

Professionals in the field are not certain how the prices will look like by the end of the Holy Week, but Kattasis says he expects prices to fall after Easter Sunday.

Prices of fruit and vegetables typically go up during the Easter holidays, a time when many consumers abstain from eating meat and follow a tradition of fasting.