Remember when lettuce cost $12 a head and your $50-a-week grocery list suddenly set you back $100? Unfortunately those wild times could return as major supermarkets like Coles and Woolworths end their months-long price freeze.
Coles and Woolies implemented a price freeze on almost 200 products and produce mid-last year after Australia’s inflation spiked to “fkn ouch” levels.
The move was designed to provide shoppers with a little bit of certainty so we wouldn’t have to count our coins to see if we could afford to make a coleslaw. I don’t know about you, but it was a huge help for me to know for certain that I could afford my groceries each week.
This is all about to come to an end though because the price freezes were only temporary. Coles is set to end its price freeze on January 31 and Woolworths’ freeze expired in December.
If you’re feeling a little alarmed by that, I don’t blame you.
Fresh produce prices rose by a huge 16.2 per cent in the year until September 2022, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Mind you, inflation was at a 30-year-high of 7.3 per cent.
Dry grocery prices (like for bread and cereals) rose by 10 per cent and are also expected to keep rising, according to financial analyst Shane Cousins.
“Trade feedback indicates that cost pressures remain, and are arguably still rising for dry grocery suppliers, with the expected further cost increases to support dry grocery inflation in early [calendar year] 2023,” Cousins said in a warning to clients, per The Sydney Morning Herald.
The good news is Woolworths said it would still keep some of its prices the same despite its price freeze coming to an end, for the sake of customers.
Let’s hope the ~free market~ drives competition between the supermarkets and encourages them to introduce promotions, sales or even another price freeze to keep customers coming back. Though I wouldn’t hold my breath.
In the mean time, here’s our guide on which fruit and veggies are the cheapest in January so you don’t have to spend $12.50 on bananas and a loaf of bread.
