By Chrysostomos Tsoufis

The third biggest decrease in the Eurozone on a monthly basis was the inflation in Greece in November according to the final data announced by Eurostat.

Inflation in the country “landed” at 2.9%, very close to the EU average of 2.4%.

We are neither among the countries with the lowest inflation, nor among those with the highest but somewhere in the middle.

13th out of 25 to be exact.

But the picture with food inflation is disheartening. Greece closed November with the second highest food inflation at 8.8%, 2.2 points higher than the Eurozone average which closed at 6.6%, Only in Spain did food prices rise more.

The processing of the data on the products that make up the Eurostat food index shows that in November Greece in 19 of the 26 categories the appreciations were higher than the European average

In meat, Greece had the third largest increase in the Eurozone behind only Bulgaria and Lithuania. In all 5 categories of meat, the increases in Greece are at best twice the Community average:

Greece Eurozone

Beef 7.9% 4%

Pork 14.4% 7.3%

Lamb-Goat 7.2% 5.5%

Fish-Seafood 9.5% 5.8%

Poultry 2.9% 0.2%

In beef, where the difference is almost double, our country has the 3rd largest price increase behind Lithuania and Bulgaria

In terms of pork, Greece is second only to Croatia

In seafood and fish, inflation has more than doubled since September, with the result that Greece is behind only Malta here.

Three of the categories that gather consumer complaints are cheese, dairy and eggs. And rightly so, since in all 3 categories we are above the average by a significant margin:
Greece Eurozone

Cheeses 10.1% 2.9%

Milk 0.5% -2.2%

Egg 8.6% 2.1%

In cheese, Greece is marginally in 2nd place behind Belgium. Fresh milk prices in Greece are increasing, while in the Eurozone they are decreasing. 4th highest inflation in eggs, which in our country is more than four times the EU rate.

In the category of oils and fats the differences are infuriating with Greece being 6 times higher than the Eurozone. In this category, inflation has tripled in our country since July.

Greece Eurozone

Oils-Fats 31.6% 5.9%

Butter 1.1% -10.5%

Olive oil 54.5% 50.9%

Other oils -18.3% -20%

In butter, prices continue to rise in Greece, but the Community average is negative. In olive oil 54.5% is beastly but not the highest. On the Spanish shelves the price increases are at 66% and on the Portuguese at an unimaginable 75%.

In the rest of the oils (sunflower oil, soybean oil, corn oil, etc.) the prices fall at about the same rate as in the rest of Europe

In fruit, the diagram shows that until May the increases in our country were below the Community average.

A trend that changed in June and has remained unchanged since then. As if all this wasn’t enough in November we had the 3rd highest fruit inflation behind Slovenia and Croatia. In vegetables we are marginally higher than average.

Greece Eurozone

Fruit 11.9% 8.6%

Vegetables 10.6% 9.6%

Coffee and wine complete the list of products that hurt Greek wallets the most, but we are nowhere near the first places.

Greece Eurozone

Coffee 6.8% 5.4%

Wine 6% 5%

On the other hand, price increases in sugar, potatoes, beer, and juices were smaller in Greece than in the Eurozone.

In fact, in our country yogurt prices have decreased (4.1%) compared to increases of 3% in the euro area.