Photo from UNIAN
Prices of fruit and eggs in the fourth month rose most.
Director of the National Scientific Center "Institute of Agrarian Economics" Yuriy Lupenko says food prices in Ukraine in April 2020 grew by 2.2% from March 2020, but the coronavirus-related quarantine restrictions had no significant effect on price hikes.
Read alsoUkraine sees foodstuff price hikes in Q1
"Consumer food prices in Ukraine in April 2020 increased by 2.2% compared with March. Prices in March grew by 0.4% compared with February. Relatively low price jumps demonstrate that consumer good prices did not grow as much as they potentially could during the quarantine introduced in Ukraine from March 12, 2020," the Center's press service quoted Lupenko as saying on May 19.
The absence of massive, excess demand and insignificant price hikes in March-April could be explained by a decrease in Ukrainians' purchasing power.
Prices of fruit in April grew most (by 12.8%) due to the seasonal factor and the temporary shutdown of wholesale and retail food markets. Prices of eggs were also noticeably higher (by 9.4%), although they were on the decline prior to the quarantine.
"However, these goods do not belong to the category of staples that are stocked for a long time," the report said.
Meanwhile, prices of staples rose slightly in April. In particular, prices of pasta grew by 1.9%, those of meat and meat products were up by 0.9%, sunflower oil rose in price by 0.3%, while creamery butter prices remained unchanged.
The only exception was sugar, as its prices rose by 2.9% in March and by 4.8% in April, but due to other factors, rather than quarantine restrictions.
"Yet, the increase in food prices in April was the highest since June 2017. Compared to April 2019, consumer food prices grew by 2.5%," it said.