Cyprus’ Consumer Protection Service has published its monthly price observatory for February, covering 250 basic goods sold across 400 retail outlets, and reporting a mixed picture of increases and declines across key product categories.
The ministry said the data broadly mirrors figures from the Statistical Service, which recorded an annual inflation rate of 0.1% in February, compared with 0.5% in January and negative rates in the previous two months.
Agricultural products posted the largest annual increase at 4.2%, while electricity and water prices fell 9.3% and petroleum products 7.5%.
Compared with January, agricultural goods dropped 1.2%, helping slow food inflation to 2.7% from 3.5% a month earlier.
Out of 45 product categories monitored, 19 rose in price, 23 fell and three remained unchanged.
Fresh vegetables and greens recorded the sharpest monthly increase at 20%, followed by frozen breaded meats at 16.1% and fresh fish and mollusks at 14.9%.
Declines were led by frozen mollusks and shellfish, down 31.2%, with smaller drops in sugar, frozen fish, cold cuts, pasta and detergents.
The service also compared prices among seven major supermarket chains using data from the government’s “e‑kalathi” digital platform.
The number of identical products available across all chains rose to 253 in mid‑March from 228 last October. The price gap between the most expensive and least expensive chains for this basket stood at €131.61, or 13.2%.
Ahead of Easter, the ministry is also tracking prices for fresh meat, including lamb, pork, beef and chicken, comparing current levels with averages from the previous two months and with Easter 2025.
Officials stressed that the observatory is intended solely as an informational tool and does not constitute consumer advice.
They urged shoppers to conduct their own price comparisons and noted that some products differ in quality in ways that cannot be captured by the index.
