A small bottle of water will as of July 1 cost 60 cents – up from the long-fixed price of 50 cents – increasing by 20% as consumers in the country face another hike in prices, this time for bottled water.
Increases will also apply to the cost of beer, juices and soft drinks, and come on top of a 30% expected rise in the price of chocolate (cocoa) and a 20%-increase in coffee prices, the latter mostly due to hikes in the international rates for the two traded commodities.
Market insiders are attributing the price hikes to the implementation of the “Deposit Return System – DRS” under which a new ‘green’ tax is applied to bottled products. As an incentive, customers will be refunded the increase through a voucher every time they return the plastic bottles to the place of purchase.
The new price hikes will also apply to aluminum packaging of up to one liter, glass bottles up to 1.3 liters, and plastic packaging up to three liters (beer, wine, bottled water, soft drinks, milk, instant drinks).
As a result, the price for liquids of up to 0.5 liters in aluminum, glass, or plastic packaging will increase by 10 cents and by 15 cents for packages exceeding 0.5 liters.
This means that shoppers will have to pay 1.64 euros for a 1.5 liter of milk – up from 1.49 euros; 1.10 euros for a soft drink – up from 1 euros, 1.76 euros for a bottle of beer – up from 1.66 euros, and 60 cents for a small bottle of water – up from 50 cents.
