Greeks cut back on milk and bread because of lack of funds

The trends in Greek food chain stores illustrate the local market has dropped by -1.1% in value during the 1st 6-month term of the year compared to the respective period last year.

The data showed that the consumption of personal care products had dropped the most (-4.4%), as well as Household products (-3.5%). Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) were down by -2.2%, driven mainly by a contraction in volume and consumption.

The average value per item recorded a deflationary trend of -0.5%. In the foods and beverages categories milk products lost in value by -8.6%, as did packaged bread (-5.3%) and whiskey (-6.8%).

The data reaffirms previous findings in the year. According to the IRI survey company, in January the turnover from food sales in the supermarket declined by 10%, while in the first week of March the decrease was 15%, compared to the corresponding last year’s seasons.

Meanwhile, Bank of Greece (BoG) figures showed that household savings were limited during the crisis, while the percentage of households that said their expenses were lower than their income fell from 21.9% in 2009 to 13.5% in 2014.