By Annette Chrysostomou
PRICES of food and drink have not changed much from last year, but range widely across the island and between different kinds of shops.
In the run up to the holidays, the competition and consumer protection service conducted new research, comparing the prices of meat, Christmas delicacies and other foods and drinks. The data were collected in large and small supermarkets, butchers, bakeries and confectioneries in the regions of Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca, Paphos and Famagusta.
The services have found that prices in general have not changed from last year, with minor exceptions, Emily Christodoulou from the government’s competition and consumer service explained on Friday.
However, it depends where one buys the products. Here is a comparison of the prices, where all are per kilo.
As regards Christmas delicacies, the cheapest melomakarona is sold for €4.99 in Paphos, and the maximum price is €13.00 across the island.
When buying kourapiedes, it is again good to shop in Paphos, as there they can be as cheap as €8.50, whereas in Larnaca one can pay as much as €17.70 for the same product.
A medium-sized Christmas cake is best bought in Nicosia, where prices range from €14.65 to €30.00, whereas in all other towns a cake this size may cost up to €38.00. It is economical to buy them in big supermarkets, as they are on average €4 more expensive in confectionaries in Nicosia, and the same size of cake is likely to cost €7 more in a bakery. In Larnaca, the difference between a cake purchased from a supermarket and a confectionery is €12 on average.
Prices for fruits and vegetables also differ.
Tomatoes sell for €1.30 in Limassol, but in Larnaca they are sold for up to €2.19. Gallant apple prices range from €0.89 to €2.65 and Merlin oranges from €0.69 to €1.95. The lowest price for potatoes is €0.50 per kilo, but they can cost up to €0.99 at present, according to the report. The price for greenhouse cucumbers ranges from €1.99 to €2.89 around Cyprus.
The price of ordinary bread varies across regions, but also across supermarkets. The cheapest in Nicosia is sold for €0.94 in Carrefour and the most expensive at Debenhams €1.95.
As for drinks, the price for the same brand of whisky could range from €8.95 to €17.19 everywhere in Cyprus. Local table start from €2.59 in Nicosia’s Ioannides supermarket, but the same wine is priced two and even three euros more in other supermarkets around the country.
The average price for lamb islandwide is €7.56, for pork flank €4.30 and for chicken €3.39 in big supermarkets. In small supermarkets and butchers, prices are generally higher for all three types of meat. Across shops, the price for a kilo of pork flank ranges from €2.40 to €6.00, a kilo of whole chicken is €2 to €5 and lamb is priced from €6 to €14.
