Grocery Costs Climb Across Europe as Fresh Food Prices Accelerate

OPA WIRE, Nov 5 (OPA) — Unprocessed food prices across the eurozone rose 4.6% in October, up from 2.7% in August, according to preliminary figures from Eurostat. The overall inflation rate in the currency bloc reached 4% in October, its highest level in more than three years, propelled primarily by energy costs that jumped 20.8% compared to the previous year. Transport and production expenses heavily impact perishable goods, which cannot sit in storage for extended periods.

Nicola Nobile, chief Italy economist at Oxford Economics, noted that energy and food are driving price increases while core inflation remains stable despite ongoing energy shocks. In Italy, unprocessed food costs surged 7.5% in October compared to a year earlier, exacerbated by diesel-related transport strikes in the country's southern regions that temporarily emptied supermarket shelves in Campania, Puglia, and Calabria.

Other major European economies experienced similar splits between overall inflation and fresh produce costs. In France, total food prices rose 1.2% in October, while fresh products jumped 8% higher than a year earlier, according to national statistics office INSEE. Meanwhile, Cyprus recorded the steepest annual food price increase in the EU at 4%, followed by Spain, Romania, Malta, and Portugal. Outside the EU, Türkiye registered a sharp 27.6% annual surge in food prices.

Conversely, 14 of the EU's 27 member states saw food prices decline compared to the previous year, led by Sweden where prices dropped 6.3% following a government value-added tax reduction. Since September 2021, EU food prices have risen by roughly a third, with Eastern European nations like Hungary, Bulgaria, Estonia, and Romania seeing cumulative increases exceeding 50%. Pantheon Macroeconomics projects eurozone inflation to peak at 4.5% in January, raising pressure on households as winter heating expenses arrive.