The recent report by the Bank of Greece and a special analysis by Foundation for Economic & Industrial Research (IOBE) indicate that Greece is among the most expensive countries for food at the European level.
According to the Bank of Greece’s study, which examines 41 categories of branded supermarket products and compares prices with those in nine other Eurozone countries, Greek prices are on average about 10% higher than the Eurozone average.
Notably, price differences in Greece compared to other European countries reach up to 129% for carbonated water and 56% for long-life milk.
The Bank of Greece attributes high prices mainly to market concentration among suppliers, dominated by large multinationals providing imported products.
Additionally, retail market distortions and consumer habits, such as purchasing smaller packages, drive prices up.
IOBE’s data are equally concerning. Food inflation in Greece is comparable to the EU27 average, while Greek wages, in terms of purchasing power, are only higher than those in Bulgaria.
From January 2021 to May 2024, the domestic Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for Food saw a cumulative increase of 29.4%, similar to the 30.6% rise in the EU27, with Spain experiencing a slightly higher increase of 31%.
While cumulative price changes in specific food categories in Greece and the EU27 from January 2021 to May 2024 show no significant differences, the price increase for olive oil stands out. Domestically, olive oil prices rose by 137.2%, compared to 121.5% in the EU27.
From January to May 2024, food inflation in Greece averaged at 5.6%, down from 11.7% in 2023. In the EU27, food prices rose by 2.3% during the same period, down from 12.7% in 2023.
Olive oil significantly contributed to domestic food inflation, averaging 5 percentage points from January to May 2024, up from -0.7 percentage points in 2023. Similarly, fresh food’s contribution averaged 4.6 percentage points, up from 4.1 percentage points in 2023.
Source: tovima.com
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