15/07/2007 00:00
TW
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by Staff Reporter

PALMA
THE price of alcohol and tobacco in Spain is the lowest in the European Union (EU), according to a comparative study of prices for 2006 published by the statistics office, Eurostat.

The report said that tobacco in Spain is 36 per cent cheaper than the average for the EU-27, and alcohol is 19 per cent cheaper.
Prices in Spain are, as a whole, lower than the EU average, with the exception of bread and cereals, which are 12 per cent dearer.
The report goes on to say that food products and non-alcoholic drinks in Spain are eight per cent lower than the EU average, while meat is 19 per cent less, and milk, cheese and eggs are four per cent less.

In general terms, the report shows that the Nordic countries, Denmark in particular, are the dearest in the EU while the lowest prices are usually found in the Baltic countries and in Poland.

In the case of cigarettes, the higest prices are to be found in the United Kingdom (205 per cent of the average of the EU-27), Ireland (186 per cent), France (133 per cent) and Germany and Sweden (119 per cent).

The lowest prices were to be found in Latvia (28 per cent of the EU average), Lithuania (30 per cent), Romania (32 per cent) and Estonia (41 per cent).
As to alcohol, the highest prices are to be found in Ireland (181 per cent of the average), Finland (170 per cent), the United Kingdom (152 per cent) and Sweden (145 per cent). The lowest prices are in Bulgaria (69 per cent), Slovakia (72 per cent), Hungary (77 per cent) and Lithuania (79 per cent).

When it comes to food products and non alcoholic drinks, the cheapest are in Bulgaria (56 per cent of the average), Lithuania (64 per cent) and Poland and Slovakia (67 per cent).

The dearest prices are in Denmark (142 per cent of the average), Ireland (125 per cent), Finland (120 per cent) and Sweden (126 per cent).
Bulgaria has the cheapest meat (48 per cent of the average price), the report says, while Denmark and Sweden have the dearest (149 and 133 per cent respectively.