Life after the price cap in Hungary: how have prices changed?

The price freeze was officially scrapped on 1 August. And supermarkets were compelled to readjust the tags of most of the previously price-capped goods. Many shoppers believed that the prices would skyrocket after the abolishment of the price cap. However, both price rises and price falls can be witnessed.

Napi.hu reported the price changes concerning basic staples. They examined whether there is any ground to fear a drastic increase in the cost of groceries post-price cap. Eggs and cooking oil have become cheaper in many places, but the price of granulated sugar, flour, pork legs, and chicken breast has shot up. UHT milk and chicken wings have remained unchanged in some places regardless of whether there is a promotion in effect.

Right after the abolishment of the price cap, the prices did not show significant changes. A minor increase in the case of certain basic foodstuffs could be seen though. The six biggest chains, Lidl, Aldi, Tesco, Auchan, Spar and Penny followed more or less the same pattern regarding the price changes.

Growing demand

A group of employees of a popular chain spoke to napi.hu anonymously, recalling that in the week before the abolishment of the price freeze, there was a noticeable increase in demand. For example, customers stocked up more than usual on flour, sugar, cooking oil and UHT milk, and several shops experienced higher sales of meat products that were still available at fixed prices until the closing date, this Monday. It should be noted that most chain shops ordered months ago that only a limited quantity of basic price-capped foodstuffs could be purchased at a time. However, most shops have scrapped this restriction now.