The cost of buying food in Portugal is below but fairly close to the average price in the EU countries, coming in at 94% of that cost.
Eurostat conducted a price survey of 440 products across Europe trying to assess the purchasing power in the nations.
It found that the price differential for a comparable basket of food and on-alcoholic drinks was more than twice as high in pricier countries than in poorer ones.
Overall, the most expensive grocery shopping was in Denmark, followed by Sweden, Austria, Ireland and Finland.
Lowest prices could be had in some of the former eastern bloc nations, led by Poland and followed by Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Czech Republic and Hungary.
The item with the greatest price difference was tobacco. The costliest places to buy it were the UK, Ireland and France. Bulgaria, Croatia and Lithuania were the cheapest. The differential was more than four.
The price in Portugal was 83% of the average price.
Alcohol also saw a large differential of 2.5 times. The greatest prices were imposed in Ireland, Finland and the UK while booze remained cheaper in Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary.
Pricing in Portugal was 93% of the EU average.
For individual food types, Denmark, Sweden and Austria ranked most expensive for bread, cereal and meat.
Surprisingly perhaps, the cost of cheese, milk and eggs was highest in Cyprus, followed by Greece and Ireland.
In Portugal, meat was the only item which was considerably cheaper – 78% of the average. Bread and cereal was just shy of the average and milk, eggs and cheese were just a whisker (101%) more than the average.
Neighbouring Spain had overall costs similar to Portugal’s, but was pricier for bread, cereal and meat while cheaper for dairy and a lot less for alcohol.
Nevertheless, it appears that the two Iberians have the lowest prices in western Europe.
The UK was practically the same for bread and cereal, but considerably more for everything else.
