Overview
- Food costs have climbed about 35% since 2020, and surveys show roughly half of consumers say they must significantly cut back on grocery shopping.
- The SPD proposes a voluntary “Deutschlandkorb” of cheaper domestically produced staples to ease household pressure and support farmers, a concept consumer groups view skeptically due to weak results from past voluntary pledges.
- Agriculture Minister Alois Rainer rejects the plan, the AfD dismisses it as a “basket booze idea,” and The Left favors cutting or scrapping VAT on basics as a simpler relief measure.
- The Greens and the Verbraucherzentrale back a state price observatory and targeted VAT relief, while Ramona Pop urges clear labeling of shrinkflation and an independent price comparison portal.
- Germany’s grocery market is highly concentrated with four groups controlling about 88% of sales, and price trends vary widely by product, with coffee up around 40%, chocolate up over 70% and some dairy prices retreating toward 2020 levels.