Despite the constant allegations of anti-competitive practices leveled against foreign-owned hypermarkets in Hungary, a pre-Easter survey conducted by business daily Napi Gazdaság has found no evidence of such collusion, and plenty of Húsvét deals.

The survey focused on Easter-related products sold at Hungary's three largest hypermarkets - Auchan, Cora and Tesco. While Tesco was found to be the cheapest of the three, the sample "basket" of goods was a mere Ft 150 (€0.58) more at Cora, the most expensive.

Overall, the paper said that the small gap in prices among the stores suggests that they have studied each other's offering. But nothing they found validated the widely-held notion of a connection between allegedly low quality and cartel behavior among the hypermarkets. The paper said that Tesco is selling smoked ham for the same price as last year, while Auchan's has actually come down in price. And Cora's ham, while more expensive than Tesco's, is still Ft 40 lower than last year.

Prices for seasonal vegetables were found to be surprisingly low as well. This year's "Easter" tomatoes are cheaper than last year's, radishes costs the same, and in case of green peppers, only those of the highest quality are more expensive.

Another interesting finding of the survey was that hypermarkets this year seem be "hiding" some of their Easter-related sale items. The paper theorized that in earlier years, the stores had put their Easter sale items near the entrances, which drew crowds large enough that some customers didn't bother entering the stores, assuming they were already packed like an Easter basket.