As of today, October 1, prices on 100 dairy products are increasing by 7%-12%. This is the second price increase within a few months for the category, after the first round in June, as, according to market players, pressure from raw materials is intensifying.The new cycle of price increases comes immediately after the informal summer truce between the government and the market, the national price reduction initiative currently underway, and the objections that have been raised regarding the duration of the initiative.
With retailers sending the message: “If we do not receive price increases from suppliers, we will not make price increases”. Pointing out that the critical period will be the next three months. Namely the holiday period when turnover is 60% higher compared to the average of the year.
Also entering the equation is the institutional framework for offers. Until the end of 2026, the measure is extended that provides for a three-month exclusion from offers and promotional actions for products that have previously undergone a price increase. The regulation thus creates an additional dilemma for suppliers and retail, market executives argue. The estimate is that businesses that have the ability to delay increases may do so. This does not mean that price increases will be avoided.
“If they do not happen at Christmas, they will happen in January”, a retail executive characteristically notes.
Added to the cost pressure is also energy, but in dairy products the biggest problem lies one step earlier in the chain. In the milk itself and in the availability of the raw material.
This pressure has also been described by the president of the National Interprofessional Organization of Feta, Michalis Sarantis. The shrinkage of livestock capital has reduced sheep milk production, at a time when international demand for feta continues to increase.
The pressures are not limited to feta. KRI KRI has also announced that part of the increased cost of raw materials will need to be passed on to prices from December onward.
How much prices have increased since 2020
The price increases are coming in a category, that of dairy products, worth 2.7 billion euros, which has particular weight for the average basket and which in recent years has significantly increased its prices.
From 2020 to today, the value of white milk sales has increased by 10.5%, but quantities have declined by 4.7%. Average prices have risen by 15.2%.
An even more intense picture appears in infant milk, where volumes have decreased by almost 10%, despite price increases of more than 17%.
On the opposite side is yogurt. The value of its sales has increased by 44.3% and volumes by 32.5%, as demand is shifting toward high-protein products and options associated with exercise and wellness.
Cheese also appears resilient. Despite the increase in average prices by 26.3% since 2020, sales volumes have increased by almost 28%. In ice cream, the increase in value reaches 61.7%, with average prices higher by 38.1% and volumes by 23.6%. Even in butter, where price increases exceeded 23%, the reduction in quantities sold is limited to about 1%.