500 milliliters of grape juice quietly shrunk to 450 milliliters, 75 grams of hawthorn cool thin became 69 grams ... In recent days, the reporter saw a number of supermarket food counters in the city to see, many people are familiar with the food in the packaging unchanged Quietly under the "downsizing", the actual content was significantly reduced, but the price remained unchanged. This "change in price" behavior makes consumers feel hurt.

Drink to play "thin"

Yesterday, in a large supermarket in Changfeng Street, the reporter saw a brand of crystal grapes, mango juice and peaches lined up on the shelves, and each beverage was divided into 500 ml and 450. Two milliliters, but the price is 3 yuan. A staff member in the counter told the reporter that the net content of these drinks last year was 500 milliliters, and many of them became 450 milliliters this year, but the price has not changed. In the face of the question of why the beverage is thin, the shopping guide stated that it may be that manufacturers have reduced the bottled capacity in order to save costs. This plainly means that prices have risen in disguise.

When reporters picked up another brand of tea beverage, they found that after changing the new packaging, the net content of each bottle of the beverage was changed from the previous 550 ml to 500 ml. The staff of the supermarket’s drink area stated that the packaging changes were all recent events. They were also discovered when the citizens asked, and the specific situation is still unknown.

During the interview, the reporter found that the ice factory's two products have reduced the amount compared to last year without changing the price: 75 grams of the mountain has shattered into 69 grams, and 80 grams of ice flakes have become 67 grams. In addition to beverages, ice cream, many brands of biscuits, instant noodles, milk drinks have appeared "downsizing" signs.

Consumers are hurt
In the investigation, the reporter found that there were two kinds of situations in which the drink was “slimming”. One was to completely change the new package and then to reduce the drink capacity; the other was to rewrite the size of the package and there was no change in the package. In this regard, the relevant experts said that the product at the same time to change the packaging and capacity of the right to infringe the consumer is still difficult to define the right to know, but for the packaging does not change, but only reduce the amount of drinks, it is clear that the manufacturers in disguised price increases.

As for the practice of soft drinks, Ms. Zhang, who is buying Coke, said that the raw materials have gone up, and that there is nothing wrong with the proper price increase for drinks, but it should also be clear and price increases. This kind of "slimming" behavior that quietly reduces the amount of weight makes everyone feel deceived.

"The cost of raw materials is rising. Manufacturers can raise product prices appropriately. Our consumers can understand it. But this opaque disguised price increase will make people even more objectionable." The public, Ms. Yan, is very optimistic about the "downsizing" of drinks: "In fact, For consumers who love drinks, an increase of 35 cents is not a big deal and does not affect everyone's consumption. Businesses do not have to play this game."

The main cause of high cost

According to industry analysts, the "downsizing" of drinks is due to the consideration of controlling costs. According to reports, raw materials prices such as sugar prices and packaging have risen since last year. Taking Master Kong's daily C series as an example, the product is a low-concentration fruit juice with a sugar content of about 30%. The price of sugar has risen from 5,270 yuan/ton in the same period last year to 7,346 yuan/ton now, an increase of 39%. In addition to fluctuations in sugar prices and juice prices, changes in oil prices have also led to higher prices for plastic packaging, which are the main reasons for rising food costs.

Since rising costs are the consensus of the industry, why do manufacturers choose to “slim down” their products without choosing prices? Experts said that this is due to the fierce competition in the food industry. Consumers are more sensitive to prices. In order to lock in consumers and maintain market share, most companies are not willing to raise prices easily. Especially when the product's substitution is strong, companies will not take the lead in provoking the price increase banner. On the contrary, the means to reduce the amount of non-price increases are more subtle and not easily perceived by consumers.

But there are also insiders pointed out that product packaging "downsizing" such as individual products appear in individual companies, can be understood as companies in the ease of their own cost pressures; but if the entire industry's product specifications are to take the opportunity to adjust, you can not rule out companies to follow suit, collusion The price of the suspect.