After a meeting with Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson (M) in March, market giants Ica, Axfood and Coop agreed that something must be done about the soaring food prices. Since then, grocery stores have applied various measures to reduce the cost level of various food products.
The comparison company Matpriskollen has studied the price development of the food giants during the period 20 March to 17 April and can conclude that prices in total have decreased by 0.1 percent.
"I think a very price focus has been triggered since the meeting," says Ulf Mazur, adding that Lidl may have been a contributing factor.
"Lidl were not invited to the meeting, but they were the ones who took the tone and announced that they are reducing the price of a hundred items for a couple of months. Then ICA followed suit and sank at least 300 items, Mazur explains.
Some product groups are getting cheaper
Despite the price reductions and percentage discounts on fruit and vegetables for members at Coop, no further dramatic decline is visible in the figures.
"The positive thing is that food prices have not increased anyway. And the commodity groups that we have seen decrease in price will probably continue to become cheaper in the future," says Mazur.
According to Matpriskollen's statistics, it is fruit, vegetables and dairy products that pull down prices. Eggplant and zucchini are some of the things that have fallen the most, with just over 22 percent.