Products coming to Serbia from China have risen in price by more than 50 percent in the last year. The main reason for the increase in the price of goods from China is the constant increase in the prices of shipping containers with goods that are three times more expensive compared to the period before the pandemic.
According to the website Freightos, which through its FBX (Freightos Baltic Index), the index monitors the movement of prices for the transport of goods overseas, the current average price for the transfer of one container is 9,680 dollars. For the sake of comparison, according to the data of the same site, the price of transport a year ago was 4,204 dollars.
A series of logistical disruptions and congestion has led to a global shortage of transport containers. Due to that shortage, there was a jump in prices and delays in deliveries that affect everyone, and with each appearance of a new strain, these delays would become even more acute and prices would rise further.
All this is directly reflected in the prices of goods in Chinese stores throughout Serbia, where we are all used to the prices being slightly lower. As Blic has learned from conversations with employees and customers in those stores, clothes, toys, glass cups, plates and all other goods have become drastically more expensive.
Prices in Chinese stores in Belgrade are drastically higher than a few years ago. The smallest price increase in these stores is 30%, but in many cases the prices are now twice as high as last year. These price increases apply to absolutely all goods in stores, without exceptions, from toys, clothes, shoes, jewelry, cutlery, glasses, plates.
“The prices of clothes in Chinese stores are significantly higher than before, here is this vest that I bought today, it cost me 15 euros. Exactly the same as if I had entered a boutique on the Boulevard. I no longer see the benefits of buying in these stores, they are not nearly as cheap as before,” a customer in one store told Blic.
According to L. M, a seller in the same store, prices have generally risen 30 percent.
The saleswoman in the second shop pointed out that glass glasses and plates were the most expensive in the shop where she works, Blic writes.
“In our country, glasses and plates have become more expensive. For example, a set of six glasses used to be sold for 5 euros, and today it is for sale for 10 euros. Also, plates, if more than a year ago they were sold per piece for 80 cents, today their price is 80 percent higher,” she says, pointing to the prominent price of 1.5 euros on one of the plates.
As already pointed out, the average cost of transporting one container around the world is 9,680 dollars. However, if we look at the prices of transport from China to the Mediterranean or to Northern Europe, the prices of transport of one container are even higher. According to FBX, it currently costs between 14,100 dollars and about 14,500 dollars to ship one container of goods by boat, Biznis reports.
