Food prices Christmas food: – Expert: – Wait

It’s snowing, it’s snowing, and the stores are filled with Christmas goods. Gingerbread, lutefisk, ribs and a Christmas soft drink. It’s tempting to taste test, but if you let money decide, you’d be wise to wait, we think food price mogul Ivar Petersen.

“It’s about following up and adapting to the offers that come in connection with Christmas,” Petersen tells DinSide.

Petersen has analyzed the food market for the Norwegian Institute for Bioeconomics (Nibio) for several years, and now works through his analytical company ALO-Analyse AS.

Inexpensive classic Christmas foods are good enticements to draw customers into the store, according to Petersen, but it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly when prices will drop, because this varies from year to year.

A deep dive into the DinSide and Dagbladet archives shows that the timing of the big Christmas price cuts this side of the millennium varied from approximately November 10 to December 10. In recent years, it has fallen somewhere around the middle, towards the end of November.

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Not hydrophobic

Historically, it has been Christmas ribs in particular that have been at the forefront of price cuts. Petersen says there was a lot to be saved on ribs in particular, and their price dropped much more than pork in general. Now this has corrected itself somewhat.

– We no longer see such frenzied offers for ribs as we saw in 2012-2014, when the price of ribs dropped to 19 Norwegian kroner before Christmas, says Petersen.

Although it’s been a long time since we’ve seen such prices for ribs, we still won’t go back any further than last year, when the cheapest ribs cost less than NOK 50 per kilo in the run-up to Christmas. And after Christmas, good deals are always possible. Today, the cheapest Christmas ribs cost around NOK 130 per kilo.

And if there’s one Christmas product that has a great chance of selling well this year, it’s ribs.

– There was an overstock of meat and full freezers, so here we actually saw prices go down.

This is especially true of pork.

– It is said that there is still a good supply of pork to cover the need until Christmas. This means that the slaughterhouse will keep prices moderate.

This is supported by former colleague Mads Svenrud in Nebbio:

– There are strong indications that there is a very large production of pork.

This is expected to be one of the items that stores will be competing for in the run-up to Christmas.

Pay attention to the final amount

Price cuts still have to be implemented somewhere, so you can also count on prices becoming more polarized in the coming period.

“We like to see a mix of some very cheap goods, while more exclusive goods tend to be more expensive,” says Petersen, and again stresses the importance of paying close attention.

Very cheap rib doesn’t help if all other prices are raised accordingly.

Don’t wait too long

In some cases, it may be smart to start early, Petersen advises. Early, like when the offers come in. Because it is by no means certain that all the shows will continue until Christmas Eve.

– For retailers, it is wise to get some Christmas merchandise out very early, not to sell everything at once. It is not certain that the same items will be on display until Christmas.

Here, you just have to follow through, in other words.

You should also be aware that some products may be sold out. November and December are peak season for out-of-stocks on certain seasonal items, which vary from year to year.

We will not forget the Christmas Soda Night, which guaranteed a sell-out for several years in a row. On the other hand, last year, it was the classic Tomte wine and gingerbread that got people going.

DinSide is in regular contact with the chains, and so far has not delivered any Christmas merchandise – but that could quickly change.