Food prices were almost unchanged in July. Regular prices for food in grocery stores fell by 0.2 percent compared with June, according to the Food Price Index monthly statistics.
The largest price increases in July were seen in veal, at 1.7 percent, and other beef, at 1.1 percent.
The price increase for beef is driven primarily by a Swedish shortage of animals for slaughter, combined with high demand during the barbecue season, according to Ulf Mazur, CEO of Matpriskollen.
"Demand has been greater than supply for a long time. We have bred too few animals for the last six or seven years and there is still a shortage," he says.
Last year, the price of milk was high and people didn't want to slaughter animals, so that also helped drive up prices.
Can go down
In a year's time, food prices have fallen by almost 6 percent, including the VAT cut. Even so, meat stands out as the only one of 21 product categories that is more expensive even with the VAT cut.
According to Ulf Mazur, however, the price of Swedish beef may drop slightly.
Now consumers are starting to say no and take imported meat when Swedish is becoming a bit too expensive, so now they are starting to campaign harder. This will probably continue and then the regular prices will also go down, is my speculation.
More expensive milk
The goods that fell the most in price in July were fruit and berries, by 3.2 and 1.5 percent respectively, which is explained by the fact that it is the peak season for many varieties.
Over the past year, dairy and cheese products have fallen the most in price. According to Ulf Mazur, last year's good harvest led to an overproduction of milk, but this autumn, higher milk prices for farmers are expected to have an impact on store shelves.
Dairy prices have bottomed out, so we'll probably see them start to rise within a couple of months.
