The person who picked up the food basket in one of the selected stores in Borås had to pay 1,200 kronor. For the same goods in Stockholm, the price was 1,608 kronor, which is 34 percent more expensive.
But size also matters.
It is a well-known fact that the size of the stores determines. The small stores have a higher price per kilogram, says Ola Nilsson, expert in consumer issues at PRO.
More than 600 stores
The survey, which has been conducted with the help of PRO's members annually since the beginning of the 1990s, compares 43 different food items in 680 selected stores across the country.
And as usual, the regional differences are large. The most expensive is in northern Sweden, while western Sweden and especially the southern Älvsborg region are the cheapest.
After the sharp price increase in 2022, a significantly smaller price increase is now noticeable. Overall, the food basket has increased in price by 0.5 percent, although certain items, such as orange juice, have skyrocketed (30 percent increase).
Among the items that have risen sharply in price are also a range of basic goods, which puts pressure on consumers, notes Ola Nilsson.
It's coffee, cocoa, chocolate, olive oil, milk. It's the kind of things that everyone buys and has in their refrigerators.
Having a hard time
PRO's chairman Åsa Lindestam also sees how the organization's members are having an increasingly tough time economically, as pensions are not keeping pace with all the costs.
-Pensioners come forward and say that it's hard to make ends meet.
The consequences for the elderly can be several, according to Åsa Lindestam, primarily that they have to prioritize among their expenses to make ends meet:
You have to pay the rent and have food, I think you might have to refrain from picking up your medications, which come third. It's a very dark picture for pensioners today, she says.
* PRO divides the survey into small and large stores.
