Consumers have recently had to dig deeper into their pockets to buy sugar. Now food retailers are reducing prices again.
The price of sugar has risen sharply in recent years. Now consumers can look forward to it becoming significantly cheaper again. At Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd, a 1-kilo pack of their own brand will cost just 89 cents from Tuesday instead of 1.49 euros, the companies announced. Other large supermarket chains and discounters are also reducing prices. At Kaufland and Lidl, a pack of sugar has cost 99 cents since this week. Edeka, Rewe, Netto, Penny and Norma are reducing prices at the same level. The retailers cited falling raw material prices as the reason for this. The prices for other products such as powdered sugar and gelling sugar are also expected to fall.
Many food products have become significantly more expensive in Germany in recent years due to inflation. According to the Federal Statistical Office, in August 2024, consumers had to pay an average of 32.4 percent more for food and non-alcoholic beverages than the average for 2020. Sugar is one of the products that saw the highest increase. In August 2024, the pack was more than 82 percent more expensive than it was four years ago.
Data from the price comparison portal Smhaggle shows that at all major retail companies, the shelf price for a kilogram of own-brand sugar was still 79 cents in January 2022. In December of the same year, it climbed to 1.49 euros.
According to the German sugar industry, the price increases were mainly due to rising costs for energy, raw materials and personnel. In December 2023, the average price for sugar on the European internal market reached its peak at 856 euros per tonne in December. According to the industry association, the current price development is influenced by crude oil prices and reflects the harvest prospects for sugar cane in countries such as Brazil, Thailand and India.
Source: Stern
