Prices mainly stable

The prices of most everyday products remained stable between December and January as Malta switched over to the euro, according to a study by Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin.

Only eight per cent of the 202 products under review registered an increase in price, with UĦM general secretary Gejtu Vella saying that, despite the perception that the changeover would lead to price hikes, this had not come about.

So far, he said, it did not look like businessmen had abused the changeover.

Union consultant Stefano Mallia said the low movement in prices during the euro changeover period was probably due to caution by businesses. In one per cent of the cases the prices even went down.

He said the price stability agreements reached by a number of importers and the government helped prices remain stable but it remained to be seen what would happen when the agreements expire next month.

Giving the results of the price-monitoring exercise, Mr Mallia pointed out that the price hikes were mainly registered in wheat and dairy products such as butter, cream, pasta and yoghurt, due to the increase in the international price of cereals.

About half of the products whose price went up between December and January had seen price movements earlier. The fact that the price increases were registered across the island indicated that this was a result of price increases abroad, he said.

The UĦM was, however, not in a position to say whether the increase was proportionate to the fluctuation in international cereal prices.

Price rises were more widespread between October and January, with some 25 per cent of the products seeing an increase, the majority being food items and non-alcoholic beverages.

The union also carried out a survey with 1,000 respondents, the majority of whom felt that prices did not fluctuate a lot over the past year and neither would they do over the course of the next.

The aim of the exercise, which has been carried out regularly for some months, is to look at prices of selected everyday items to enhance consumers' confidence in the changeover. The majority of products under review are food and non-alcoholic drinks.