Salt, pepper, paprika – the price of spices has increased brutally

While the price of salt a year ago, in the weeks before the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, was only HUF 158, this January we had to pay HUF 291 for the same product in stores. Overall, this represents an 84 percent price increase. But the situation is no better in the case of the small package of black pepper, although it is less drastic: in January of last year, it was HUF 173 in stores on average, while last month they asked for HUF 217 for the same product.

Hot peppers went up somewhere between the two products, by 32 percent. So the average price of a kilo package rose from HUF 5,040 to HUF 6,660. However, if we look further afield, we can see that in January 2021, the price of salt per kilo was HUF 146, i.e. the product became 99 percent more expensive over the course of 2 years. At the same time, paprika was HUF 4,580 at the same time, which increased its price by 33 percent. The price of unpackaged pepper rose by 32 percent between January 2021 and January 2023, after rising from HUF 165 to HUF 217.