Leaders in retail price hikes

Food and mainly olive oil, flour, meat, cheese, fruit, vegetables, potatoes, as well as apparel, ferry tickets and health insurance premiums have emerged among the “champions” of price increases in Greece in the period 2019-2024. These are goods and services whose prices not only increased a lot, even more than 120% during the period under review, but also more than the European average.

On the other hand, however, in the same period, the prices of several products and services increased at a much lower rate than in the European Union, while there were even some price reductions. These were in products such as fish, pasta, sugar, drinks, cigarettes, food service and tourism.

According to Eurostat’s analytical data on the evolution of prices in the period July 2019 – April 2024, the harmonized index of consumer prices increased by 16.5% in Greece compared to 23.1% in the EU. Food prices in particular, a category which has been at the center of attention for the last two and a half years, increased in Greece in the period 2019-2024 by 33.9%, approximately as much as in the EU (33.8%).

The leader in terms of price increases among all products and services measured by Eurostat and not only in the food group was olive oil, with the price having increased by 121.6% compared to 111.1% in the EU. This deviation from the bloc is largely due to the fact that in Greece olive oil prices were at much lower levels than in other European countries before the very large hikes that started last year and were due to the reduced production of the main olive oil-producing countries.

The second highest price increase concerns another product closely related to Greek cuisine – lamb and goat – whose price has increased by 66.6%, compared to 42.2% in the EU. Beef prices grew 33.9% (25.8% in the EU), and pork prices 33.1% in Greece (34% in the EU). Cheese product hikes (44.6%) outsized the EU’s (34.8%), as well as rises in other basic food items, such as fruit, vegetables and potatoes. Pasta, rice, fish and fresh milk recorded hikes below the EU average.