LUXEMBOURG – Bread prices in the EU in August rose by an average of 18 percent due to the war in Ukraine, the highest since the European statistical office has been publishing data, and Croatia is among the countries where it became most expensive.

In August last year, the average price of bread in the EU was three percent higher compared to the same month of the previous year, Eurostat announced, which has been collecting data since 2017.

Russia and Ukraine are major exporters of cereals whose exports were hindered by the blockade of ports on the Black Sea. Russia, meanwhile, lost access to ports on the Baltic Sea through which it exported ammonia, a key ingredient for the production of nitrogen fertilizers.

This prompted a sharp rise in cereal prices on world markets, which was also felt in the EU.

Compared to last August, bread became most expensive in Hungary, by as much as 66 percent. It is followed by Lithuania, with bread 33 percent more expensive, and Estonia and Slovakia, where it rose by 32 percent.

Croatia is also very close behind, where the price of bread in August this year was 31 percent higher than in the same month of 2021, Eurostat tables showed.

Poland and Latvia are also in the group, with bread approximately 30 percent more expensive than in August last year.

The increase in bread prices in Germany and Slovenia, important Croatian trading partners, is closest to the Union average, according to Eurostat data.

The most modest increase in bread prices was recorded in France, at eight percent, followed by the Netherlands and Luxembourg, where it rose by 10 percent.

Bread prices in the EU have been rising continuously since the beginning of the year, and in February, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, they were on average 8.3 percent higher compared to the same month a year earlier.

In the bread and cereals category, prices in August were on average 16.6 percent higher compared to the same month last year, representing their biggest increase since at least January 1997, Eurostat data show.

Source: seebiz.eu