2023 was a time of post-pandemic recovery for Hong Kong, with global logistics services returning to normal, and no more waves of panic buying as once witnessed during the pandemic. The price of some supermarket goods showed a gentler rise or even decline, but certain products continued to soar in price due to tight supply caused by various reasons. The Consumer Council released the results of its annual supermarket price survey 2023, employing electronic scanner data from 3 major supermarket chains to calculate the average price of groceries. The results showed that the aggregate average price of a basket of 300 items was up by 1.9% over 2022, slightly less than the 2.1% increase in the 2022 survey, also relatively lower than the increase in the Composite Consumer Price Index (2.1%) over the same period. However, more than half of the surveyed goods (162 items) increased in price. 35 out of 54 product groups had taken an aggregate average price hike, with 3 groups recording double-digit increases, which included “chocolates/confectionery” (23.7%), “biscuits” (11.7%), and “eggs” (10.6%). 19 other product groups recorded a decrease in aggregate average price, some of which had shown a steep price increase during the pandemic followed by a drop in 2023. These included “frozen pastries” (-3.8%), “packaged rice” (-2.6%), “frozen dim sum/meals” (-2.4%), and “canned soup/vegetables” (-1.5%). Despite the more stable or even lowered prices, consumers should still compare prices across retailers, particularly for products with a large price increase over the past year. For instance, the average price of 1 olive oil item recorded an upsurge of nearly 30%, far from the 2.5% average increase of the “edible oil” group it belonged to. The Council reminds supermarket groups to continue to uphold their social responsibility and stay competitive, for which they ought to carefully consider the necessity and extent of price increase.
Poor Cocoa Bean Harvest Led to Soaring Chocolate Prices
Prices of “Confectionery/Biscuits/Snacks” Rose by Almost 10%
Among the 13 categories of goods sampled in 2023, the top 5 with the highest aggregate average price increase were all food items, with “confectionery/biscuits/snacks” in first place (9.9%), followed by “baby food/formula/diapers” (5.4%), “bread/cake/spreads” (4.1%), “dairy/eggs/bean curd” (3.4%), and “instant drinks” (2.4%).
Within the “confectionery/biscuits/snacks” category, which experienced the steepest hike, 5 out of the 6 product groups had taken a price hike as compared with 2022, with the most significant increase in aggregate average price in the “chocolates/confectionery” group, rising by 23.7%. This was due to poor harvest in certain major cocoa producing countries as a result of adverse weather conditions, among other factors, which led to a surge in cocoa bean prices and subsequently, an increase in chocolate prices. 4 items in this group recorded double-digit increases, ranging from 12.2% to 38.3%, 2 of which even soared by over 30%. The “biscuits” group from the same “confectionery/biscuits/snacks” category also saw a notable 11.7% increase in aggregate average price, ranking second among all 54 groups. The average price of 9 items in this group went up by 4.8% to 22.7%, of which 4 items recorded double-digit increases. As for the “non-chilled instant dessert” group, also classified under snacks, the aggregate average price increased by 8.6% in 2023. Last year’s newly added “preserved snacks” group saw an average increase of 6.4% compared with 2022, with greater increases in 3 items: a fish sausage item (7.8%), a pitted prune item (7.2%), and a satay sliced beef item (7.2%).
Price of Baby Food, Formula and Diapers All Went Up
The “baby food/formula/diapers” category which ranked second also recorded a significant price surge last year (5.4%). The aggregate average price of “baby food” has been going up for 2 consecutive years, increasing by 3.9% in 2023 after a 5.3% increase the year before, of which 1 organic fruit puree item rose as much as 12.1%. The prices of “infant formula” (5.8%) and “infant diapers” (4.7%) both resumed the upward trend. The average price of all 3 baby formula items went up by 4.7% to 7.7%, whereas the 4 items in the “infant diapers” group witnessed larger fluctuations, with 2 rising by 17.8% and 15.6% respectively, and the other 2 dipping by 10.1% and 3.6%.
Ranked third in aggregate average price increase was the “bread/cake/spreads” category (4.1%), under which the “prepacked cake” (6.7%) and “prepacked bread” (4.5%) groups both increased more significantly, with 1 chocolate pie item going up by 9.2% and 1 sandwich bread item by 8.6% last year.
Egg Shortage Due to Avian Influenza Caused Price Surge of 10%
Compared to the aforementioned product categories, the aggregate average price increase of the “dairy/eggs/bean curd” category was not particularly significant last year (3.4%). However, due to outbreaks of avian influenza in Japan, the United States and other countries, the supply of eggs in Hong Kong became tight at one point, resulting in a substantial 10.6% increase in the aggregate average price in the “eggs” group. 4 out of 5 items in this group saw increases in the average price, among which 3 items respectively from Japan and Australia even recorded an upsurge of 15% to 16.7%.
Among dairy products, the aggregate average price of the “ice cream” group increased considerably (4.8%), with 4 items surging by 5.4% to 15.8%. As for the “cheese” and “butter” groups which saw a price spike of over 10% in 2022, the “cheese” group had a slight retreat with the aggregate average price falling by 0.3% over the past year, while the “butter” group increased by a relatively modest 2.4%. However, the average price of 1 butter item rose for 2 consecutive years, with a jump of 20% in 2022 followed by 11% in 2023, surpassing 30% in its cumulative increase.
The aggregate average price of the “instant drinks” category also recorded an increase (2.4%), among which the group with the highest rise was “tea bags” (7.2%). 3 out of 6 items under this group recorded an increase in average price by more than 10% last year, with 1 particular tea bag item having already risen by over 10% in 2022, the cumulative increase of which was well over 20% in the past 2 years.
Upward Trend Reversal for Staple Food and Canned Food Prices
While Prices for Frozen Food Stabilised
During the severe pandemic situation in Hong Kong in 2022, many families stocked up on food, causing a leap in the aggregate average price of “staple food”, “canned food” and “frozen food” (increase ranging from 3.5% to 5.4% in 2022). As the pandemic subsided, the aggregate average price of these 3 categories also stabilised in 2023. The “staple food” category reversed its upward trend from 2022 and recorded a slight drop of 0.3% in aggregate average price. “Packaged rice” which was a target in the waves of panic buying during the pandemic had a decrease of 2.6% last year after a 1.3% rise in 2022. 3 out of 10 rice items sampled saw a cut in price by 4.3% to 7.6%. The price of “edible oil” went up for 2 consecutive years with an increase of 2.5% last year. The average price of 1 olive oil item recorded a cumulative surge of over 50% over the past 2 years, soaring by more than 20% in 2022, followed by 29.7% in 2023.
The aggregate average price of the “canned food” category also discontinued the upward trend, dipping by 0.7% last year after having risen by 4.6% in 2022. However, the rises and falls in price differed greatly between products. The aggregate average price of “canned soup/vegetables” and “canned fish” decreased by 1.5% and 1.3% respectively. However, 3 items in these groups had taken a price hike ranging from 11.5% to 13.5%, with 1 canned kernel corn item recording a cumulative price rise of nearly 30% after increasing for 2 consecutive years.
As for the “frozen food” category which was highly popular during the pandemic, its aggregate average price rose by 0.1% last year, a narrow decline compared to the 3.5% increase in 2022. Under this category, “frozen pastries” and “frozen dim sum/meals” recorded the largest drop among all groups at 3.8% and 2.4% respectively. The only group that saw an increase in aggregate average price was “frozen meat/seafood”, rising by 3.6%, with a beef tendon ball item and a chicken cartilage item going up by 12.8% and 9.6% respectively.
Meanwhile, “alcoholic drinks” remained the category with the largest reduction in aggregate average price for the second consecutive year (-1.3%), with the “wine” group further dropping by 1.9% last year, while the “beer” group rose by 1.7%.
Consumers Encouraged to Make Good Use of “Online Price Watch”
Among the 300 items sampled in this survey, 156 were also included in last year’s report which covered prices from 2021 to 2022. Of those, 55 items recorded a consecutive rise in average price for 2 years, including some biscuits, chocolates, noodles, bottled/sport drinks, tea bags; while 17 others saw a price drop for 2 years in a row, such as some packaged rice and milk items.
Although the overall price increase of supermarket goods had slightly slowed down compared to the previous year, the rising price level of certain products, such as confectionery, biscuits and eggs, was rather significant. As such, the Council recommends consumers to make good use of the Council’s “Online Price Watch” (https://online-price-watch.consumer.org.hk) to compare prices across different supermarkets and retailers before shopping. The Council will continue to closely monitor price changes in daily necessities to assist the public in making smart choices.
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