By Chrysostomos Tsoufis

Improvement of the situation in many categories in which the country “made championships” in the previous months, but also the emergence of new foci of concern is the main conclusion of the data published by Eurostat and concern food inflation for the month of February.

As in December and also in January, Greece had the 2nd highest food inflation behind Malta, a twin that remains unchanged.

In Hellas price increases ran at 6.5% from 8.3% in January while at Eurozone with 3.1% from 5.3%. In other words, the de-escalation of food price increases is faster in the Eurozone and the Greek growth rate remains more than double.

The processing of data on the products that make up the Eurostat food index shows that in February Greece in 15 out of 23, i.e. almost 2/3, price increases were higher than the European average.

In meat, Greece had the 6th largest increase in the Eurozone behind Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Estonia and Luxembourg. In all 5 categories of meat, the increases in Greece are much higher than the Community average.
Greece Eurozone
Beef 4.5% 2.6%
Pork 7.9% 5%
Lamb-Goat 7.2% 4%
Fish-Seafood 9.8% 3%
Poultry 0.9% -0.4%

In the amnoerifi category, Greece had the 5th largest increase behind Croatia, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Spain.
A source of concern is seafood and fish where inflation accelerated to 9.8% from 7.7% in January. Greece remains second, only that the first has changed and the place of Malta has been taken by Romania.
Poultry is also causing concern as Greece belongs to the small group of 6 countries whose prices are still rising. In the rest of the Eurozone, prices have started to fall.
In the category of oils and fats, the difference with the rest of the Eurozone remains infuriating, although reduced, with the increase in Greece more than double. In this category, since July, inflation has almost quadrupled in our country.
Greece Eurozone
Oils-Fats 38.4% 15%
Butter -2% -1.8%
Olive oil 63.7% 51.5%
Other oils -19% -20%

In olive oil, inflation fell in Greece and rose in the euro zone, but 63.7% remains atrocious. However, it is not the highest since on the Spanish shelves it was found at an unimaginable 67%. In the rest of the oils (sunflower oil, soybean oil, corn oil, etc.) as well as in butter, the prices fall at about the same rate as in the rest of Europe.

In fruit, inflation is galloping at double-digit rates and twice as fast as the Eurozone as Greek consumers paid the highest increases in the community. The figures show 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. The picture is also bad for vegetables with Greek inflation 6 times higher than the EU inflation and the country in 3rd place behind Croatia and Ireland.

Greece Eurozone
Fruit 12.2% 6.3%
Vegetables 6.5% 0.6%

Eggs are a new source of concern, where the price increase almost tripled, while in the Eurozone it was halved. Greece in 3rd place behind Malta and Spain

Greece Eurozone
Egg 4% 1%

In drinks we have an explosion of inflation from 10.8% in January to 16.7% in February in juices with Greece in 4th place behind Holland, Germany and Finland. A significant increase in coffee inflation as well. In wine, an acceleration of inflation was observed in Greece for the 2nd consecutive month against a decrease in the Eurozone for the 8th consecutive month.

Greece Eurozone
Juices 16.7% 14.2%
Coffee 3.9% 1.4%
Wine 6.8% 2.5%

On the contrary, in a number of products the situation in the country is much better than on average in the Eurozone:

Greece Eurozone
Bread 0.5% 2.3%
Yogurt -4.6% 0.7%
Potatoes 7.7% 10.8%
Sugar -4.1% 0.4%
Beer 4.4% 4.9%
Milk -4% -4.5%