Due to the increase in the prices of food products, Albanian families have increased the consumption of bread and chicken meat, while the use of meat, sausage, oil and dairy has decreased. 

Companies claim that the drop in consumption has reached up to 40% compared to years. Even in bars and restaurants, less is being consumed this year. 

Businesses are clamoring for tax cuts, as the contraction in consumption is expected to result in bankruptcies and job cuts. 
 
In this period, consumption has decreased for basket products, ranging from 15 to 40% less compared to years. 

The main production and import companies in the country claim that the main reasons for the contraction of consumption are the increase in prices due to the increase in costs and the mass emigration of the population, mainly young people. 

In June, inflation, which measures the change in prices of a specific basket of goods, reached 7.4%, the highest level in 20 years, mainly influenced by rising food and fuel costs. 

Due to rising prices, the consumption trend is downward for meat, dairy products, sunflower oil, beer and soft drinks, while the consumption of bread has increased. 

In the bars and restaurants of Tirana and the South coast, operators say that consumption has dropped by 30 to 40% due to the increase in prices. 

The most acute concern for service structures is the severe labor shortage and youth immigration that has increased service costs. 

The prices of four food items are controlled by the Transparency Board since the beginning of April. Market operators claim that keeping prices under control did not increase economies of scale (consumption), but increased profit margins, as it encouraged small grocery stores to raise the prices of other products. 

On the other hand, the producers, in addition to the increase in costs due to the increase in the price of raw materials, due to the global trend, suffer the competitiveness of the region's products, as they pay more taxes. 

Meat processors raise concerns that the processing raw material tax and VAT make their production 40% more expensive than North Macedonia. Industry representatives call on the government to remove the 12% raw material processing tax and the oil VAT on businesses. 

Costs from taxes and prices of raw materials have also become more expensive for milk processors after the removal of the 6% VAT creditable from January 1, 2022. 

The representatives of these industries unanimously demand that the government intervene by reducing the VAT for basket products, to help the consumer. 

The consumption of basket products for basket goods, such as: sunflower oil, rice, pasta and sugar for the month of July is down compared to last year. 

Representatives of the company "Teuta", one of the main distributors of food products, told "Monitor" that the decrease in consumption was influenced by consumer panic buying, after the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war, but also due to the summer season. which is characterized by a decrease in demand for some goods in the food basket. 

The "Big Market" supermarket chain claimed for "Monitor" that for the first 20 days of July, revenues are 8% more compared to years. 

The representatives of "Big Market" explained that the trend of consumption appears the same in relation to years, while the increase in income has been affected by the increase in prices for the products of the basket of imported goods due to the global trend. 

The administrator of one of the major oil import companies in the country, Aredi Sado, added that currently, the consumption of sunflower oil is 30 to 40% less than years ago. For the months of April-June 2022, sunflower oil consumption shrank 50% year-on-year, from stocks created by consumers scared of high prices and product shortages due to the start of the war. 

The representative of the "Olim" company says that there are three main reasons for the decline in consumption: high emigration and a large lack of tourists, mainly immigrants who leave after July 15, the still high amount of oil stored by the consumer and the high growth of the price. 

"The decline in consumption is expected to create a difficult situation for businesses, as operational costs (employee salaries, transport fees, taxes) continue to be kept at the same levels as when consumption was higher. 

If this situation continues, all the pressure will be vented somewhere, businesses will be forced to reduce the number of employees, as they will not have financial opportunities". 

Importers also raise the concern of the alienation of oil consumption, due to the amount of oil that is entering uncontrolled and falsified.

According to them, the abuse has increased in all directions, including the counterfeiting of foreign brands, but also in smuggling from the cities of the border points. According to Customs data, sunflower oil imports for 2021 increased 8% more than in 2020. 

The head of the company "Tona" says that the main reasons for the decline in consumption are the increase in product prices up to 20% more than last year and emigration. 

"The main reasons for the decline in consumption are high prices and the departure of the population. Young people who occupy a high proportion in the consumption of food goods are leaving in emigration. "Currently, if the consumer spent 100 Lek for salami and meat products, today he is spending 75 Lek," he says. 

(Source: Monitor)