Report: German Food Retailers Record Largest Drop in Turnover since 1994
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Retail food sales in Germany in March were down by 10.3 percent in real terms, recording the sharpest year-on-year sales decline since the record began in 1994, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Tuesday.
"The further significant increase in food prices is likely to be a reason for this," Destatis said. Soaring 22.3 percent year-on-year, food price inflation in March was around three times as high as the overall inflation rate in Europe's largest economy, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Dairy products and eggs in particular became more expensive, with price going up almost 35 percent within a year. Vegetables, bread and cereal products as well as fish and seafood also became significantly more expensive, according to official figures.
"Because of high inflation, large parts of society are cutting back on food, postponing spending and incurring debt," warned Marcel Fratzscher, president of the executive board at the German Institute for Economic Research last week.
High inflation as well as the energy crisis had "significantly increased the financial hardships of many people in Germany", Fratzscher said.
German food banks already reached their limits at the beginning of the year. Demand for the free food provided has gone up 50 percent on average across the country.
"Around 30 percent of the food banks have had to stop taking in clients because they lack food, helpers, premises and money," the non-profit organization the Tafel noted.
Germany's inflation rate is only expected to decline slightly to 7.2 percent in April. The German government is forecasting annual inflation to remain high at 5.9 percent this year, before falling to 2.7 percent next year.
