In January 2024, the average monthly cost of preparing one standard portion of Imeretian khachapuri increased, ranging between 6.40 GEL (Batumi) and 7.11 GEL (Tbilisi), with an overall average cost of 6.62 GEL. This recent average indicates a 2% increase compared to the preceding month of December 2023. While examining year-to-year trends, the current price of khachapuri is 4.6% lower than in January 2023.
In January, most components saw year-on-year inflation: yeast (+13.6%), milk (+11.6%), butter (+10.4%), and eggs (+3.7%). Conversely, cheese (-9.5%) and flour (-5.1%) experienced a decrease in prices compared to the same period last year.
The monthly price increase is typical in this period, associated with seasonal limited local milk production and respective increase in the quantity of imported milk powder, milk cream, and other dairy products. This trend was evident in the monthly change in khachapuri ingredient prices, with all ingredients inflated except for flour (-0.8%) and butter (-0.2%).
A potential factor contributing to the yearly decrease in cheese prices might be the observed increase in milk production in Georgia in 2023 compared to 2022, as indicated by official statistics (with the production during the initial three quarters of 2023 exhibiting a 3% increase compared to the equivalent timeframe in 2022).
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