Romania has the cheapest food in the EU

Romania has the cheapest food among the 28 European Union member states, with 66 percent of average price levels, according to Eurostat.

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.

Denmark had the highest price level for food and non-alcoholic beverages in the EU in 2018, at 130 percent of the EU average, followed by Luxembourg and Austria (both 125 percent), Ireland and Finland (both 120 percent) and Sweden (117 percent).

At the opposite end of the scale, the lowest price levels were observed in Romania (66 percent), Poland (69 percent), Bulgaria (76 percent), Lithuania (82 percent), Czechia (84 percent) and Hungary (85 percent).

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 percent of the EU average in Romania to 152 percent in Denmark; for meat from 63 percent in Poland and Romania to 146 percent in Austria; and for milk, cheese & eggs from 71 percent in Poland to 136 percent 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 percent of the EU average) and Hungary (77 percent), and the highest in Finland (182%), Ireland (177%) and Sweden (152%).

For tobacco, the price levels were four times higher in the most expensive country than in the cheapest. The lowest price levels were observed in Bulgaria (49 percent of the EU average), Poland (60 percent) and Croatia (62 percent), and the highest in the United Kingdom (204 percent), Ireland (201 percent) and France (141 percent).