Milk is sold in packs of half a liter, so as not to look expensive. Real feta and kefalotiri are no longer needed by the Greeks, they have been replaced by “white” and “hard” cheeses.
Food prices are steadily rising, and at the same time, the Greek consumer is systematically deprived of the most traditional national products, Apostolos Ratopoulos, president of the Union of Greek Consumer Workers, told Contra TV channel.
Mr. Ratopoulos, among other things, criticized the methods used to prevent consumers from guessing about the galloping rise in price, this time for fresh milk. At the end of 2022, a farmer was selling a liter of whole milk for 0.61 cents, while we buy a private label product for 1.12 euros, an 84% increase, he recalled. And for branded products, prices soared to 1.84, 1.94, 2.08, 2.28 euros. In recent weeks, a “new” product has entered our lives – 500 ml milk, the price of which ranges from 1.13 euros to 1.26 euros, that is, more than 2.5 euros per liter.
Similarly, “white cheese” is promoted at the expense of real feta, because it is made from cow’s milk instead of sheep’s and goat’s (and imported in increasing quantities, as production in Greece is constantly declining), as is “hard cheese” instead of real kefalotiri , for the same reason.
see also How Greece, Spain and France are coping with rising prices. Apostolos Rathopoulos repeated that since the beginning of the inflationary boom, cheese has risen in price by 42%, oils and fats – by 42.5%, milk – by 37%, bread – by 32.5%, fruits – by 30.5%, pork and beef by 29%, lamb and goat meat by 30%, yogurt by 27%, juices by 25.2%, vegetables by 24.6%, butter by 23.34%, poultry meat by 23%, margarine and vegetable oils by 22 %, as well as many other things.
The President of the Workers’ Consumers Union said: “We have not opened America, we are telling the government that if it does not want to reduce VAT (because it generates income and VAT for social policy by skipping the market, etc.), then it should do it the way Portugal did, Cyprus, Poland. Cancel VAT on the first six basic food products: milk, yogurt, bread, cereals, eggs, baby food (it can be reset to zero, today it is 6%, the cost of the measure is similar to the cost of the Greek Market Pass). As president of the Union of Working Consumers, and GSEE we are saying that these products should have zero VAT for all residents of Greece.
Help the primary sector by reaching an agreement between retailers and primary production operators. Again, the cost of supporting the primary sector and reducing VAT revenues is proportional to the cost of skipping the market for Greece. Indeed, in Portugal, a special clause was included to ensure that the elimination of VAT “will be reflected in the selling price” to avoid an increase in profit margins for retailers without benefit to the consumer.
He said these are measures that will help the primary sector stay put and livestock keepers and farmers to strengthen them in three critical sectors: energy, fertilizer and animal feed so that they produce more for people who will buy them cheaper.
see also Eurostat: Inflation in Greece at 2.7% in June, 5.5% in the Eurozone
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