Consumer, Economics and Business | Prices of Kiwi, Reema and Extra on butter: – Surprising

Kiwi, Rema 1000 and Extra butter prices have risen significantly in the past year.

On June 14 last year, a pound of Tine dairy butter was priced at $49.90. This was the price in all three discount chains.

On Tuesday of this week, Nettavisen checked prices again. Now the price with all three is 59.90.

– a surprise

Thus the price rose by exactly ten kroner in one year. This corresponds to a price increase of 20 percent. In comparison, food prices generally rose By 5.4 percent from May of last year to May of this year.

The price of butter in other chains is also high now. Oda has the same price as other discount chains. From me, half a kilo of butter costs 66.50. While the Spar Butter offer is available at $49.90 until June 16.

-There's something special about butter here. It has a different twist to other dairy products, says grocery expert Ivar Petersen in Alo's analysis of Nettavisen.

He looked at overall statistics that also show a sharp increase.

Butter prices have risen significantly recently, and these numbers are surprising. The 9.4 percent increase over the month of May is a significant increase. Five percent from April to May is particularly high, he says.

-Higher margins

Petersen says the sharp increase in prices cannot be explained by higher purchase prices in stores.

It indicates wholesale prices from And Its indicator of the so-called direct rotation of dairy products. None of these increases indicated sharp jumps in butter prices.

Judging by the public figures, it seems that grocery chains have been established “Butter is very strong,” says Petersen.

He says: – It reinforces the impression that butter has taken on a different role, and that it has now become a highly profitable product.

See answers from the threads below: – It is wrong that we have high profit margins

He makes a small reservation.

– If nothing happens to delivery terms that the statistics don't capture, butter may for one reason or another become a nice product for grocery chains, with better margins, he says.

– Competition Authority on the field

Petersen believes grocery prices in general have also seen a stronger rise than increases in producer prices indicate.

– Grocery chains also appear to have increased their margins in general, and it may look as if they have already started discounting the price increases they will receive in July in relation to the agricultural settlement.

Previously, the chains agreed that significant price changes would be necessary in February and July. The industry seems to be moving away from this. But the result may seem to be that chains increase prices a little up front.

– I expect price growth in grocery chains to decline in the future. They are very high now compared to what the purchase prices indicate. If prices do not fall, the Norwegian Competition Authority should intervene, Petersen says.

Tine: moderate increase

Nettavisen asked the chains and Tine why butter prices have risen so sharply.

– Tyne has moderately increased butter prices, but chains set the prices in stores, communications consultant Peder Buskinis wrote in an email.

Nettavisen asked Tine to explain what a moderate price increase means.

– We do not provide more information about the price to our customers, Buskinis wrote.

Rima 1000 explains the increase in prices as follows:

– The bulk of our costs is the cost of goods, so the prices on the shelf are mainly controlled by our purchasing prices, says Category and Purchasing Manager at Rema 1000, Line Aarnes to Nettavisen.

– Due to intense competition, the price was kept artificially low for a long time, she said.

– mistake

Kiwi explains the increase as follows:

– The change is due, among other things, to higher prices by the supplier. In addition, the product was sold at a significant loss over a long period of time. says Kiwi communications consultant Nora Helgesen.

“It is wrong to have high profit margins on butter,” says Helgesen.

Coop chain Extra explains the increase as follows:

– We do not know the purchasing conditions of our competitors, nor do we know how Petersen knows the purchasing prices of players and on what basis he bases this claim, says Coop communications director Harald Kristiansen.

– He says that the cooperative is owned by customers and shares the profit with them, and we have no reason to charge more than we have to.

He says there are many factors that affect the price.

Dairy butter is a product that is under intense price pressure and is sometimes sold at a loss. He says the price has remained stable since the beginning of the year, and Extra is constantly adjusting its prices to be the cheapest of the chain.