Eurostat: Bulgaria has lowest prices of alcohol, tobacco in the EU
Bulgaria and Romania have prices of alcohol that are 74 per cent of the European Union average, making them the lowest in the bloc, while prices of tobacco in Bulgaria are the lowest in EU, at less than half the average, statistics agency Eurostat said on June 20, citing figures for 2018.
Food prices in Bulgaria are the third-lowest, at 76 per cent of the EU average, Eurostat said.
In 2018, the price level of a comparable basket of food and non-alcoholic beverages across the EU was twice as high in the most expensive member state than in the cheapest one, the statistics agency said.
Denmark had the highest price level for food and non-alcoholic beverages in the EU in 2018, at 130 per cent of the EU average, followed by Luxembourg and Austria (both 125 per cent), Ireland and Finland (both 120 per cent) and Sweden (117 per cent).
At the opposite end of the scale, the lowest price levels for food and non-alcoholic drinks were observed in Romania (66 per cent), Poland (69 per cent), Bulgaria (76 per cent), Lithuania (82 per cent), Czech Republic (84 per cent) and Hungary (85 per cent).
Comparative data on consumer price levels are also available for more detailed breakdowns of food products.
For bread and cereals, price levels ranged from 54 per cent of the EU average in Romania to 152 per cent in Denmark; for meat from 63 per cent in Poland and Romania to 146 per cent in Austria; and for milk, cheese and eggs from 71 per cent in Poland to 136 per cent in Cyprus.
The price levels for alcoholic beverages ranged from one to almost two and a half.
The lowest price levels were registered in Bulgaria and Romania (both 74 per cent of the EU average) and Hungary (77 per cent), and the highest in Finland (182 per cent), Ireland (177 per cent) and Sweden (152 per cent).
For tobacco, the price levels were four times higher in the most expensive member state than in the cheapest. The lowest price levels were observed in Bulgaria (49 per cent of the EU average), Poland (60 per cent) and Croatia (62 per cent), and the highest in the United Kingdom (204 per cent), Ireland (201 per cent) and France (141 per cent), Eurostat said.
(Photo: Cathy Kaplan)
