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Christmas dinner will cost 20% more this year

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Cypriot consumers may have to settle with a poorer Christmas dinner table, as meat prices have increased 15%-24% compared to last year’s festive feast, according to the state Consumer Protection Service.

Their survey found that the biggest increase was recorded in lamb chops sold at €9.78 per kilo, compared to €7.89 last year, a jump of 23.96%.

The price for lamb minced meat is €9.56 per kilo, up 18.83% from last Christmas.

Pork neck is sold at an average of €5.89 per kilo, recording an increase of 15.85% compared to 2021.

Pork chops are also sold at €5.89 per kilo, up 15.49% from last year, while pork mincemeat was €6.16 per kilo compared to €5.43 last year.

A whole chicken was sold at an average of €4.22 per kilo from €3.85 in 2021.

During a visit to a supermarket, Agriculture Minister Costas Kadis acknowledged the increase in meat products and noted that “under the circumstances, prices are satisfactory”.

Kadis attributed the spike in prices to the inflated cost of production and animal breeding.

Meanwhile, a survey carried out by the Consumer Association revealed the average cost for a Christmas dinner in Nicosia is €166 for a four-member family, soaring to €241 for a family of six.

In Paphos, the second city for which the association sampled prices, the cost was €178 and €255, respectively.

The estimates are for a dinner that would include 35 food and drink items, from starters to desserts and alcoholic beverages.

If a family reduced the items to the 19 ‘basic’ food and beverage items, according to the association, then a table for four in Nicosia would cost €92 and €119 for six.

Paphos prices are slightly higher, with dinner tables for four costing €95 and €127 for six.

A low-income family of four, opting to cut away all luxuries, could get away with spending €24, while a six-member family could pay €36 in Nicosia and Paphos.