Over the past five years, food prices have soared by more than 20%, continuing their steep upward trend. In particular, fruit, milk, and cheese have risen by over 30% compared to five years ago.
According to the National Data Office on October 8, the price index for "food and non-alcoholic beverages" last month increased by 22.9% compared to September 2020. This is nearly 7 percentage points higher than the overall consumer price index increase of 16.2% during the same period. Fruit (35.2%) and milk, cheese, and eggs (30.7%) surged by more than 30% compared to five years ago.
Bread (38.5%), cake (31.7%), rice cakes (25.8%), and ramen (25.3%) also continued their sharp increases. Other food products, including red pepper powder and sesame seeds (21.4%), meat (21.1%), and fish and seafood (20.0%), saw slightly lower increases than the average for food items, but still exceeded 20%.
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco recorded an increase of only 5.0%, but when looking at alcoholic beverages alone, the rate reached 13.1%. The price of food and non-alcoholic beverages has continued to rise at a high rate each year: 4.4% in 2020, 5.9% in 2021, 5.9% in 2022, 5.5% in 2023, and 3.9% in 2024. During this period, the overall consumer price index rose by 0.5% in 2020, 2.5% in 2021, 5.1% in 2022, 3.6% in 2023, and 2.3% in 2024.
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