The weekly basket of groceries for a family of four in the Coop store chain cost 75.96 euros in February, about seven euros less than in the same month last year.
“Despite the increase in VAT, the price of the weekly food basket decreased compared to the same time last year. The biggest contributors to the depreciation of the food basket were the prices of butter, meat and milk,” said Oliver Rist, purchasing director of Coop Eesti.
According to the purchasing director, food prices peaked in July last year, when the family’s weekly shopping basket cost more than 86 euros.
Coop calculates the price of its family shopping basket based on the content and quantities of the shopping basket of a family of four compiled by the Estonian Institute of Economic Research. The selection includes all staple products from potatoes and cabbage to milk, bread, eggs, meat products, and desserts. In the comparison, not the cheapest product in each category is used, but rather the products that people actually buy the most at Coop stores in each category. Data for the price comparison was garnered at all major retail chains at the beginning of February.
Coop is the largest and oldest chain of food and consumer goods in Estonia, which consists of 18 local consumer associations and employs more than 6,000 people. Coop associations own a total of 320 stores, or almost half of Estonia’s food stores. In 2022, the turnover of Coop’s stores totaled 806 million euros, making it the market leader with nearly 23.6 percent.
Source: BNS
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