Since the end of 2006, but particularly since July 2007, food prices in the EU have increased more rapidly than overall inflation. The same pattern was observed for the euro area, with Malta recording the 2nd highest rise in food prices at 9.7%, Slovenia registered the highest rise at 12.2%.

In April 2008, the annual increase in food prices in the EU was 7.1%, compared with 3.6% for overall inflation, as measured by the all-items HICP. In the euro area, the annual increase in food prices was 6.2%, compared with 9.7% in Malta and 3.3% for overall inflation.

March and April 2008 recorded the highest annual increases in food prices in both the EU and the euro area since the beginning of the series in 1996. However, between 1996 and April 2008, food prices have risen in total at a similar rate to overall inflation: +31% and +27% respectively in the EU, and +30% and +27% respectively in the euro area.

The weight of food in the all-items Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) reflects the share of food purchases in household consumption expenditure. This share is 14.6% at the EU level. The weight of food in the index varies from 9.5% in the United Kingdom and 9.7% in Luxembourg, to 34.5% in Romania and 23.2% in Lithuania, Malta stood at 15.9%.

In April 2008, the highest yearly increases in food prices were found in Bulgaria (25.4%), Latvia (21.7%), Estonia (18.3%) and Lithuania (18.1%). The lowest increases were registered in Portugal (3.2%), Netherlands (5.4%), France (5.5%), Cyprus (5.8%) and Italy (5.9%), Malta recorded 9.7%.

The impact of food prices on overall annual inflation depends on both the weight of food in the all-items HICP and the annual price changes for food, and therefore differs significantly between Member States. The largest upward impacts from food prices on overall annual inflation in April 2008 were found in Bulgaria (+3.4 percentage points), Lithuania and Romania (both +1.9 pp), while the smallest upward impacts were recorded in Portugal (+0.1 pp) and Luxembourg (+0.2 pp), Malta stood at 1.0%.

Among the nine food classes, the three main classes at EU level are meat, bread & cereals and milk, cheese & eggs. They make up 60% of the food component. In April 2008, the annual price increase in the EU was 14.9% for milk, cheese & eggs, 10.7% for bread & cereals and 4.1% for meat. For the remaining food classes, price changes ranged from -1.2% for vegetables to +13.2% for oils & fats.

In April 2008, among the Member States, annual price increases for meat ranged from 0.7% in Portugal to 19.1% in Lithuania with Malta at 3.6%, for bread & cereals from 6.3% in the Netherlands to 38.4% in Bulgaria and Malta at 10.9%, and for milk, cheese & eggs from 3.4% in Cyprus to 35.4% in Estonia and Malta 14.2%.