What happened to olive oil prices in Latvia? A review of consumer prices

At the same time, the average level of consumer prices over the past 12 months compared to the previous 12 months increased by 3.6% in March.

The most significant impact on price changes in March 2026 compared to February was from transport services and goods (+1.1 percentage points), clothing and footwear (+0.3 percentage points), goods and services for recreation, sports, and culture (+0.3 percentage points), alcoholic beverages and tobacco products (+0.2 percentage points), and housing maintenance, water supply, electricity, gas, and other fuels (-0.2 percentage points).

Prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages increased by 0.1% over the month. The largest contributors to the growth in this group were prices for meat products (+3%), fresh and chilled vegetables and fruits (+3.4%). After the end of promotions, prices for butter increased (+6.4%), dried, salted, and smoked meat (+1.7%). Fresh berries (+10.6%), fresh and frozen fish (+4.1%), eggs (+2.4%), and other fresh and chilled vegetables (+3.6%) also became more expensive.

At the same time, as a result of promotions, cheese (-3.1%), fresh, chilled, and frozen pork (-3.3%), coffee (-2.1%), bread (-1.1%), and fresh citrus fruits (-6.5%) became cheaper.

The average level of prices for alcoholic beverages and tobacco increased by 3.4% over the month, mainly due to the increase in the excise tax on alcohol starting March 1. Prices for alcohol rose by 3.5%, while tobacco products increased by 3.2%.

In the clothing and footwear group, prices increased by 5.7% over the month: clothing became 4.7% more expensive, and footwear rose by 9.4%.

Compared to March 2025, the most significant impact on the overall price level in March this year came from prices in the transport services and goods group (+1 percentage point), housing, water supply, electricity, gas, and other fuels (+0.8 percentage points), services and goods for recreation, sports, and culture (+0.3 percentage points), food and non-alcoholic beverages (+0.3 percentage points), and healthcare (+0.3 percentage points).

In the food and non-alcoholic beverages group, prices increased by 1.1% over the year. The largest contributors to price growth in this group were prices for coffee (+15.5%), fresh, chilled, or frozen chicken meat (+8.9%), eggs (+16.2%), dried, salted, and smoked fish (+35.3%), flour confectionery (+2.8%), fresh vegetables (+8.7%), beef (+15.3%), dried or smoked meat (+3.3%), citrus fruits (+5.8%), and fish (+3.7%).

At the same time, cheese (-6.5%), butter (-14.6%), dates, figs, and tropical fruits (-15.5%), olive oil (-22.5%), potatoes (-14.2%), skimmed milk (-4.9%), other fresh fruits (-8.3%), leafy vegetables (-11%), other fresh vegetables (-5.4%), pasta (-5.4%), chocolate (-2.5%), yogurt and similar products (-1.2%), flour (-4.8%), breakfast cereals (-0.4%), and bread (-0.6%) became cheaper.

Not everything is so bad, especially if you used to consume olive oil?