Food prices, Sweden | Food in Sweden is now cheaper

The consumer price index showed inflation of 10.5 per cent in Sweden in April, while food prices fell for the first time in 17 months, NTB reports.

The numbers from Central Bureau of Statistics (SCB) shows that food prices fell for the first time in 17 months. The decrease in April was 1.3 per cent.

– Fruit and vegetables have the biggest price drop, of 3.9 and 5.4 per cent respectively, says price statistician Carl Mårtensson at SCB to Aftonbladet.

Also read: Extreme price jump for food in Sweden

31 percent cheaper

– Cucumber, for example, has become 31 per cent cheaper, says price statistician Carl Mårtensson at SCB to Aftonbladet.

The underlying inflation – where energy prices are excluded – shows a price increase over the past twelve months of 8.4 per cent.

It is half a percentage point lower than in March and 0.3 percentage points lower than the analysts.

Price examples

When Nettavisen was in Sweden on the last weekend in January, the price of vegetables was sky high.

At Coop, avocados online cost NOK 56 per piece. Green and red grapes 500 grams cost NOK 45.80 per piece. Oranges almost NOK 51 per kilo.

A little lower than expected

Although prices are still rising rapidly, the April figure is somewhat lower than analysts had expected.

Bloomberg has compiled several forecasts which suggested that inflation would be unchanged from March, when inflation stood at 10.6 per cent.