Price of school supplies increases up to 63.4% in Belo Horizonte – Economy

With the start of the school year approaching, parents and mothers run to stationery stores to buy the list of school supplies and are faced with prices that are up to 63.37% higher this year, compared to last year, according to research on the Market website Miner.

The survey carried out with 80 products in 11 stationery stores in the capital of Minas Gerais, shows that, this year, the price of basic products – excluding textbooks – increased by 30% on average. Some items such as stencil paper, which had an average value of BRL 2.53 in 2022, reached BRL 4.13 in 2023, an increase of 63.37%.

A favorite of children in the early years of school, the box of colored pencils with 12 units by Faber Castell, which cost an average of R$ 14.02, now costs R$ 22.59, representing an increase of 61%.

On the other hand, the research also observes generic products that can be a cost-saving option without losing quality in the material, however, they do not escape high prices. The hardcover university notebook, with 200 pages, for example, rose from R$ 16.30 to R$ 23.07, an increase of 41.5%.

“Arrival in the second half of January is the moment when the ‘bicho catches’, you have to buy and have nowhere else to run. Even the supermarket sells school supplies at that time. Searching for promotions and offers is a good strategy, but parents need to be more careful”, emphasizes Feliciano.

Planning

Doing research is ideal for good savings, as prices can vary by up to 307% between one stationery store and another, points out the survey. Products that cannot be missing, such as pens, are found at the lowest price for R$ 1.30, with the highest price being R$ 2 – a variation of 54%.

Karina Alves Bastos, mother of 6-year-old Theo, explains that prior planning is the best solution. With her son going to the second year of elementary school, the financial manager said that she bought some items at the end of 2022 and managed to get a promotion that generated savings of almost 30%, resulting in a list that cost around R$ 350 As for textbooks, she preferred to buy them online, as she found cheaper prices.

“As there is material that doesn’t change, we can anticipate it, because we know the amount of notebooks and day-to-day materials. These actions are very valid, an opportunity”, emphasized Karina.

As for Silvia Rodrigues, who opted to buy the books along with all the other materials, not even making a prior budget helped to alleviate the situation. “This year is very expensive, I thought the prices were quite steep compared to other years”, she commented.

With her son Arthur, 11 years old, going to the second stage of elementary school (6th grade), Silvia says that the value of her list jumped from R$ 1,300 to R$ 2,000, an increase of almost 54%. “The books of this new stage are also more expensive and there is no way, buy or buy”, points out Silvia.

Cost of living

*Intern under supervision