Shopping in Cyprus

Sir,

With prices rising, one of your correspondents (Letters, Sunday Mail, February 19) suggests that we “just stop shopping”.

He stated that he had found a package labelled as £1.00 sterling priced here for £2.00. I know this to be true and in the UK I found a similar thing many years ago that had been imported to the UK. This made perfect sense to me, because shipping, handling and cold storage costs are greatly increased when a frozen product is transported to another country.

If the product was manufactured here, then the price would and should reflect that and in most cases they do. Just because people want to buy English sausages, it does not mean they have to buy something that has been produced in England, when there are companies producing equally good produce here on the island retailing for at least half the price.

I know that the cost of shopping has increased very rapidly over the past few years; however, consumer researchers that go around the world filling their shopping baskets with a set selection of goods should in my opinion be sent packing.

Traditional Cyprus food is still very cheap to buy, just as traditional English food in the UK is cheap to buy. In Germany, their traditional food is cheap to buy and the same goes for wherever you go in the world. But buy that same produce in another country and you pay more for it. Simple as that.

I know that in Cyprus we are getting more and more westernised, especially now that we are in the EU, but it doesn’t mean that traditional eating habits have changed, even though our culture is rapidly changing.

I challenge anyone to go shopping here and fill there basket with Cypriot food and then go to another country and fill there basket with the same goods; you will notice a large hole in your pocket where you once had money compared to the lower prices in Cyprus.
Dave Roach, Paphos