On December 2 this year, economic analysts gathered at the Ministry of Economics (MoE) to learn about a method developed by the MoE and the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) for analyzing data on low-price food product baskets.
During the event, MoE representatives introduced colleagues from the Bank of Latvia, the Ministry of Finance, and Swedbank to the implemented method for analyzing price dynamics of product groups included in the low-price basket, and also invited discussion on further possibilities for analyzing these data.
To address the long-standing situation in the country’s food retail sector—persistently high food prices—a Memorandum on the Trade of Food Products was signed on May 27 this year. The memorandum aims to ensure that everyday consumer food products are available at prices acceptable to the general public. The memorandum covers issues such as the low-price product basket, price comparison tools, promotion of local products, and improvements to regulatory frameworks.
According to the memorandum, the low-price basket must include at least one product with the lowest price in its category within the respective retail chain. The basket contains at least 10 products in total—at least one from each product category. Products with the lowest price are regularly replaced with other products from the same category.
The low-price basket includes basic food product groups such as bread, milk, cheese, and curd, fresh vegetables and potatoes, fresh fruits, pork, poultry, beef and veal, fresh fish, grains, eggs, and vegetable oils. Compliance of the low-price basket with the memorandum’s requirements is monitored by the Consumer Rights Protection Centre, while the Central Statistical Bureau collects data provided by retailers and passes it on to developers of price comparison tools.
For a full analysis of the prices of food products included in the memorandum basket, a specific low-price product price index had to be created, which allows for more accurate information on price changes in the designated product groups and monitoring of their price dynamics.