Due to inflation, Croatians do not eat as well as they used to, and they buy less cheeses, milk and fresh fruit, vegetables and meat than in previous years, the Jutarnji List daily reported on Friday. Pročitaj više

On the other hand, they spend more money on frozen fruit and vegetables, processed and semi-processed food, legumes, eggs, vegetable spreads, and vegetable substitutes for meat and dairy products, shows a survey conducted by the GfK agency in spring this year.

As many as 44% of the respondents said that their household budget does not meet their needs, and 37% think it suffices only to cover the basic necessities. The share of those whose household budget covers all of their needs, of 19%, is much smaller than in some other EU countries – in the Czech Republic, that share is 25%, in Austria 30% and Denmark 40%.

Three in five Croatians (62%) said concern about the household budget is among their three biggest concerns, which is 11 percentage points above the European average. That concern has been additionally aggravated by inflation, which has inevitably affected shopping habits, says Mladen Kozic of GfK.

Data from the national statistical office show that in August this year consumer prices were 7.8% higher than in August 2022, while the year-on-year price increase in the category covering food, beverages and tobacco was even higher – 10.1%.

As in other European markets, the average buyer in Croatia, too, actively looks for ways to alleviate the impact of inflation. In addition to a strong increase in the share of private labels in our consumer baskets, households have reduced consumption quantity-wise in one in four categories of consumer goods, says Kozic.