FOOD PRICES in Ireland have risen by more than twice the rate of inflation over the past year and are running ahead of the average price increase in Europe, a new survey shows.
Between April 2007 and April 2008, food prices rose 8.4 per cent while the overall inflation rate in the Republic was just 3.3 per cent.
Dairy products such as milk, cheese and eggs registered the biggest increase, jumping 22.2 per cent, while the price of oils and fats rose 14.9 per cent and bread and cereals increased by 11.9 per cent, according to a Europe-wide survey published yesterday by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
The survey shows that the average food price increase in all 27 EU states was 7.1 per cent, while in the 15 states that use the euro as currency, food prices rose by 6.2 per cent.
The biggest increase in food prices was recorded in Bulgaria, which has experienced a 25.4 per cent increase over the past year.
Prices in Latvia rose 21.7 per cent, while prices in Estonia and Lithuania are up 18.3 per cent and 18.1 per cent respectively.
In countries whose currency is the euro, price increases have been more modest with increases of 5.5 per cent in France, 6.4 per cent in Germany and 6.8 per cent in Spain.
Eurostat published the survey on the eve of a major United Nations food aid summit in Rome and as EU ministers begin talks on what action, if any, they could take to ease the impact of soaring food costs.
The issue of spiralling food prices is also on the agenda at an EU leaders’ summit in Brussels scheduled for later this month.
One year ago, Eurostat reported that the annual increase in food prices was just 3.4 per cent while inflation was running at 2.2 per cent.
But the survey notes that since the end of 2006, but particularly since July 2007, food prices in the EU have increased more rapidly than overall inflation.
March and April 2008 recorded the highest annual increases in food prices in both the EU and the euro area since it began its surveys, said Eurostat.
The survey provided no details on why food prices have risen so sharply in the EU but a European Commission spokesman said yesterday that rising demand for food in emerging economies and bad harvests were factors.
However, he said that, in a European context, the switch to biofuels had only had a marginal factor on rising food prices.
British prime minister Gordon Brown has suggested EU plans to increase the production of biofuels should be reviewed because they could lead to increases in the price of food.