Consumer prices rose 4.1 percent year on year in August, the fastest since 2008.
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Prices of seasonal fruits and vegetables did not fall in stores in the summer either, certainly not as in previous years. And Czechs pay more and more for lunches, when in August the average amount of payment for food according to the Ticket Restaurant Card Index was 138 crowns, compared to January by six crowns more. Prices for accommodation also mostly increased.
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Producer prices rose even more briskly in August – in agriculture by eight percent, in industry by nine percent and in construction work by seven percent, and this continues to be reflected in the whole economy. Some materials, such as wood, have doubled in price, steel profiles by more than 150 percent since January, and insulating polystyrene by about 70 percent.
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This is mainly due to excessive demand for reopening economies, oversupply due to supply chain disruptions, whether due to coronary disease returns in ports in China or factories in Vietnam, or due to the blockade of the Suez Canal accident.
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Thousands of extra crowns for gas and electricity
It makes practically all goods and services more expensive. Clothing and footwear rose by more than eight percent year-on-year in August, food services by an average of five percent, and food, for example, butter by 12 percent and vegetables by seven percent. Beer rose by an average of six percent and tobacco products by a tenth. Prices of water and sewage have risen. As Právo also pointed out, driving school courses became more expensive by more than 20 percent year-on-year. Drivers face high fuel prices. According to CCS, the average price of the best-selling Natural 95 in the middle of this week fluctuated over 34 crowns, diesel is selling for 32.05 CZK. In January, a liter of Natural 95 cost less than 28 crowns and diesel around 27.20 CZK.
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“The price of Brent North Sea crude is just below $ 80 a barrel and has risen by 89 percent in the last year,” explained Štěpán Křeček, chief economist at BH Securities. Last year, at the same time, Natural 95 cost CZK 27.81 and diesel CZK 27.23 per liter.
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In addition to oil, other raw materials such as rubber, plastics, paper and cardboard are becoming more expensive. However, the biggest scare is now the skyrocketing prices of energy, electricity and gas. People will only feel this with the adjustment of suppliers’ price lists in the coming months. Electricity with supply for the following year is now traded on the Prague Energy Exchange for more than 120 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh), so the price is almost three times higher than last November. For example, Europe Easy Energy now offers its customers, who do not want to have a product directly linked to stock market developments, up to three times higher than now.
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The change of price lists was also announced by the sister company Bohemia Energy. “Electricity has risen in price by almost fifty percent since November. Other electricity suppliers will also become more expensive soon, ”said Trinity Bank economist Lukáš Kovanda.
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Some of the suppliers immediately started to increase the advances. “It was a shock to me. I have just received a letter from the supplier company Vemex, in which my monthly gas deposit for our house raises me by almost two thousand from CZK 2,900 to CZK 4,800. And I have not yet received an announcement about how it will be with payments for electricity, “the reader Jindřich confided in Práva on Thursday.
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