The market moves festively Easter And last Thursday, holiday opening hours of stores came into force the shops Athens and Thessaloniki. In fact, on Palm Sunday, April 9, shops will be open from 11:00 to 18:00. Extending opening hours until Good Saturday will help shoppers make their Easter shopping. Holiday traffic has started off satisfactorily this year, according to the commercial world, which expects it to develop much better during Holy Week and “warm up” with an Easter gift to private sector workers.

“Easter turnover is another bet for the entire Attica market,” Vassilis Korkidis, president of the Attica Regional Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement. According to him, this year’s €1 billion Easter gift must be paid to private sector workers before Holy Wednesday, April 12, 2023. when the “pressure” search by buyers for suitable purchases for Easter begins. The market, however, hopes to absorb much of the Easter gift, hoping to overcome the usual sluggish movement of recent years and surpass last year’s Easter turnover of 1.5 billion euros,” said Mr. Korkidis.

At the same time, traffic is also increasing in supermarkets, where consumers are using a combination of “shop basket”, “Lenten basket” and “Easter basket” to organize their holiday table in a timely manner. The “Easter Basket” is valid in supermarkets from Wednesday, April 5, and will last until Good Saturday, April 15. Includes lamb, goat, bun and chocolate eggs. “Prices for mutton and goat meat, essential commodities that our fellow citizens prefer for the Easter holidays, remained absolutely at last year’s levels until the last minute,” Development and Investment Minister Adonis Georgiadis said in a statement. According to him, “After a long period of concern over the prices of ovelias and Easter goods, we, as the Ministry of Development, kept our cool and said that we were taking the necessary steps to curb growth. We have helped households find affordable meat while dealing with the consequences of wartime precision. Despite initial fears of a significant increase in the price of sheep and goats this year, the target price of 10 euros was achieved by maintaining prices in the “basket” at the final levels of last year.

Implementation of the “Home Basket” continues

At the same time, the “Home Cart” has been running for the 23rd week. “We are approaching half a year and we see that the main products have remained absolutely stable, and many of them have already decreased. I want to thank the supermarket chains. The competition has worked and I expect there will be further cuts next week,” Mr. Georgiadis said in a statement. the “household basket” actions remained the same or lower. “The basket as a whole has fallen in price by 1.25% since last week. Currently, four baskets are actually operating: “household basket”, “Lenten basket”, “baptism basket” and “Easter basket” “We continue to build dams in a crisis of precision,” he stressed.

Consumers also have until April 15 “Godfathers Basket”, which premiered on March 29. The Godparents Basket was created to make it easier for godparents to buy gifts for their godparents at better prices. It will include a total of 12 categories of toys, namely: Easter candles – toys, boards / puzzles, doll toys, dollhouses and other accessories (imaginary toys), children’s toys, figurines, building and craft toys (for example , brick toys), vehicles – radio-controlled, electronic toys, sports toys (for example, balls, children’s basketballs and goals), soft toys, musical toys and chocolate eggs. Each store can include one or more categories of products in the “godfather’s basket” so that small stores can also apply this measure. It is noted that toy companies with an annual turnover of more than 1,000,000 euros, as well as those who voluntarily wish to do so, those with a lower turnover, will necessarily participate in the “godfathers basket”.

Focus on the cost of the Easter table

With intense inflationary pressures and limited disposable incomes for consumers this Easter, the focus is on both the cost of the Easter table and the lambs.

According to Mr. Korkidis, “Compared to last year’s Easter, the traditional arrow is expected to hit consumer tables this year, both due to a surge in production costs for livestock farmers and a reduction in livestock numbers.”

As he emphasizes, “an increase in food included in the Easter table will almost certainly limit consumption and Easter turnover in many other retail sectors, such as seasonal gifts, toys, candles, chocolate, children’s clothing and shoes.” , which make up the bulk of Easter holiday spending, while supermarkets are seeing a “slowdown” in sales, as opposed to turnover. However, the central and regional markets of Attica, despite the many difficulties, rising prices and electricity costs that all businesses have suffered, guarantee the absolute sufficiency of all Easter items and foodstuffs for consumers, whether they go to the village for Easter or stay in the Basin.

According to research carried out by the Consumer Institute (INKA), this Easter holiday table will be 12.6% more expensive (or 38 euros) than last year. In particular, an Easter table for 6-8 people is offered, according to INKA, it will cost 334.05 euros compared to last year, which cost 296.25 euros. It is noted that the Easter table includes, among other things, meat (lamb and chicken), vegetables, stews and cheeses, various other foods and soft / alcoholic drinks.

As for the lamb market, the vice-president of the Hellenic Livestock Association (SEK), Dimitris Moschos, in his statements recently spoke about the sufficiency of Greek lambs in our country, despite the increase in exports that was made this year from January – earlier. than in any other year. Mr. Moschos emphasized that the price for the consumer is expected to be higher than last year. As he explained, due to shortages in foreign markets and the fact that the Catholic Easter this year is a week earlier than the Orthodox, Greek breeders exported at least 20% more lambs, compared to 60,000 last year.

As the cost of production this year approaches ten euros per kilogram compared to 8.5-9 euros per kilogram last year, Mr. Moschos stressed that breeders cannot make lambs for Easter this year for less than nine euros per kilo. kilogram. . In any case, as he explained, “our decision to sell goat lambs at €9/kg is due to the perceived difficulty of Greek citizens in terms of accuracy on all fronts”, and in this context, he estimated that the final consumer price for Greek mutton will fluctuate. within 13-14 euro/kg, i.e. close to last year’s level, when it was 12-13.5 euro/kg.

However, breeders have been against adding lambs to the domestic basket, arguing that if a goat is sold for close to ten euros/kg it will create a “suffocation” in the small butchers that support the stock. industry.

To ensure accuracy, the SEC has proposed lowering or eliminating the VAT rate on staple foods by the end of the year, supporting livestock production to cope with rising production costs, and tightening controls. on imported lambs (from Romania, etc.) that are bred, and the adoption of support measures for butchers, and they require strict and intensive control in connection with Easter.

^{Source: APE-MEB}