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Food prices have been analysed by journalists in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in recent months. Ironically, everyone always ends up with the most expensive food, the DELFI news portal stated.
If you look at European Union statistics, Lithuania had the highest food price increase among the Baltic States in the last quarter of this year. If you go to the shops and look, you can always find cheaper products in neighbouring countries.
An analysis of retail chains Rimi and Maxima prices in their e-stores in all the Baltic countries shows that the same products are more expensive in Latvia. Of course, there are products in Lithuanian and Estonian stores that cost more than in Latvia, but products in neighbouring countries are much more often cheaper.
Comparing around 2000 products between the two chains in Latvia, they are generally more expensive in Rimi.
Compared to their neighbours, Latvian Rimi's prices for wine and champagne were the most expensive, while Maxima's were the most expensive for coffee. The latter was explained by Maxima representatives by the excise duty, which is not applied to coffee in Lithuania and Estonia.
When we tried to understand why Latvian Rimi had much more expensive wines (given that we have the lowest excise duty in the Baltics, while in Lithuania it is forbidden to sell alcohol in promotions), we never got a clear answer.
"Valdis Turlais, CEO of Rimi Latvia, was initially sceptical about the data: "It doesn't sound logical."
When we showed on the spot that Ramblas Reales Crianza red wine was €11.99 in the Latvian e-shop at the time, compared to less than €7 in Lithuania and Estonia, Turlais promised to ask "my people why there was such a difference". Whether they asked, we do not know. The marketing manager later wrote back in general terms that the wine in question was also on sale in July for €5.99.
The prices of the wines were obtained from Rimi e-stores on 17 July, and from Barbora e-store on 11 August.
As wine and coffee are not basic food items, we compared the prices of the most popular supermarket own-brand products, which logically should not differ in price if the chain buys in bulk from the same producer.
"Rimi's own-brand products were more expensive in Latvia. "Maxima did not have such a marked difference.
Prices can also vary significantly for the same product in different packaging. For example, Rimi cheese in Tilsit slices was much cheaper than unsliced. The same with long grain rice. "Kristīne Ciemīte, a spokesperson for Rimi, explains that products packaged in smaller packages are usually more expensive, but that Rimi has experimented with the price after seeing that customers like them. It is not clear from the answer what the conclusions were.
"Price differences for Rimi private label products in the Baltic States. Data collected at Rimi e-stores in the Baltics on 17 July.
Ciemīte explains the reasons why Latvian Rimi is the most expensive in the Baltics by the specific characteristics of each country's market and competition.
"A particular rice, buckwheat or cheese is not in the same demand in all three countries, because buyers locally choose their own brands, which can be completely different in each country, even within the same product group," says Ciemīte.
Source: DELFI
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