Shopkeepers on the other hand have been equally surprised but negatively so, since the change has meant extra work for them.

As Saturday’s EU accession looms nearer, and with less than a week to go before the last levies are removed, prices have come tumbling down.

Prices of anything ranging from pasta to tomato paste, coming from EU countries, have been reduced, sometimes by as much as 50 per cent.

Prices of items coming from outside the EU, such as rice, have gone up since they are now subject to EU’s external tariff.

In some cases, such as in some tomato paste products, the prices of EU products are now less than the price of comparable Maltese products.

In other cases, as in some cases of pasta, the Maltese producers have also reduced their prices, possibly foreseeing that they could not compete with the foreign imports selling at cheaper prices.

Price reductions, although at first sight seem more numerous than price increases, may not be the rule across the whole spectrum. Prices of meat from outside the EU, for instance, will also increase, sources say.

Some sources say however that some price reductions do not reflect the changes in price structures due to the removal of levies, but rather reflect the need for some importers to get rid of their existing stock before EU accession.

It also seems, although evidence in is rather fragmentary, that some importers have now decided to increase the variety of the products they import, considering their effective price levels are now more within people’s reach.