How do UK prices compare to EU countries?

The cost of overall UK food prices is reported to be 19% more expensive today than it was just one year ago. This is due to high levels of inflation, which is being charged by numerous factors including supply chain issues and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

UK supermarkets have denied that they’re profit gauging within the higher product and food prices, and some items have indeed become cheaper recently. But some experts believe that UK supermarkets can do more to lower prices in the immediate future.

With inflation a global problem, it will be interesting to see how the price of UK supermarket goods compares to nearby countries.

UK vs EU overall supermarket prices

Research conducted by Circana compared the price of 23 common supermarket items across six nations, namely the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and The Netherlands. The 23 products that were compared were all products that most households frequently buy, such as toothpaste, toilet paper, milk, butter, ketchup, nappies, pasta etc. The findings of the study indicate who is paying the most for frequently bought products amid the cost-of-living crisis, and it makes interesting reading for UK residents.

When researchers combined the cost of the 23 goods, they found that Germany offers the cheapest price for the 23 items (£47.25) and France the most expensive (£67.57). The UK came in as the third cheapest (£51.72).

The reason for these figures is highly complex and could be due to eating habits, supply chains, taxation, protection for producers, politics and much more. There are also some limitations to the study. For example, the study doesn’t include the cost of fresh fruits and vegetables because of the frequent changes in fruit and vegetable prices due to seasonality.

A study from Oxford Economics found similar results. Their research indicated that UK food prices are around 7% below the EU average, and this compared data from many more EU countries.

What’s expensive in UK supermarkets right now?

The study conducted by Circana also reveals what individual supermarket items we pay more for in the UK than you would on the continent. The data shows that on average we pay a higher price for toilet paper than our EU counterparts, and we pay more for condiments like ketchup and mayonnaise. The cost of our butter and cheese is also higher than the prices paid in most of the other countries in the study.

On the other hand, you can buy some products from UK supermarkets at a much cheaper price than EU counterparts. The three products that were cheaper in the UK than anywhere else were frozen pizzas, nappies and rice. The average cost of nappies was £5.57 in the UK, whereas in four of the five other countries, the cost was over £8 and over £12 in France. 

June 2023