Bread, cheeses, flour, milk and pasta were among the food items that became more expensive during the period August-October, clearly reflecting the ever-rising price of grain in international markets, according to a report by the Unjoni Haddiema Maghqudin (UHM).

The second price monitoring report, presented yesterday by the UHM, revealed that 82.5 per cent (165 of over 200 products) of the items did not register any price movement, 2.5 per cent (five) registered a price decrease, while another 15 per cent (30) registered a price increase.

The report covered the period between August and October and closely monitors the prices of just over 200 products and services against a receipt.

Forty mystery shoppers bought a total of 800 items and services, against a receipt from supermarkets, grocers and other places from four parts of the Maltese islands.

Researcher Stefano Mallia said that among the items bought, 65.6 per cent of the products were food and beverages, 8.6 per cent were personal goods and 8.1 per cent were catering and leisure products.

The monitoring exercise will continue until May 2008.

The study noted that the price decrease ranged between 1.7 per cent to 7.1 per cent, while the price increase ranged between 1.4 per cent to 34 per cent.

“There is a clear relation between the increase in prices and the international price of grain,” he said.

However, Mr Mallia said that the study could not state whether the price increase was a clear reflection of the higher international prices.

He went on to say that price increases were registered across all four clusters, and that the price went up at the point of importation and not at the retailer.

“If one looks at Europe then one will see that there is a food price increase across the board,” he said.

UHM secretary general Gejtu Vella, appealed to importers not to try to abuse consumers by raising prices, especially before the euro changeover.

“The introduction of the euro is an important tool to strengthening the country’s economy – it will bring us many advantages,” he said.

Mr Vella said it was one thing if the price of a product increases for justified reasons but it was unacceptable if the increase was not justified.

“Whoever continues abusing the system by increasing the price of products, will be publicly named and shamed – we will not allow the consumer to be abused because of a minority’s lack of foresight,” he said.