The New Year is approaching, and Georgian housewives are already preparing for this great event. So does the ISET-Policy Institute. The special dish we have cooked for our readers is a New Year Supra Index. Served on the Georgian Supra Map, the Index shows the cost (in GEL) of a standard supra meal for a family of 5-6 persons in each one of Georgia’s regions.

The average cost of cooking one standard portion of Imeretian Khachapuri increased to 3.66 GEL in November 2015. This is 1.4% higher m/m (compared to October 2015), and 9.6% higher y/y (compared to the same month of the previous year, November 2014). Given that it mostly consists of food prices that are subject to sharper seasonal fluctuations, the upward trend in Khachapuri Index is somewhat steeper than that of GeoStat’s official Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Khachapuri index changes its value in different regions according to seasonal demand and supply peculiarities. The latter is affected by milk production cycles (low in fall and winter, high in spring and summer), Georgia’s religious calendar (e.g. the Great Lent), as well as the ups and downs in tourism.

In October 2015, the average cost of cooking one standard portion of Imeretian Khachapuri climbed to 3.61GEL, which is 4.5% higher m/m (compared to September 2015), and 7.9% higher y/y (compared to the same month of the previous year, October 2014).

The cost of cooking one standard portion of khachapuri stood at 3.46GEL in September 2015. Compared to the previous month (August 2015) the Index lost 0.9%; in yearly terms (compared to September 2014), it actually gained 3.2%.