Mild pressure on inflation The market for organized food retailing in August 2025 is recorded, according to targeted monthly survey by the Consumer Retail Research Institute (IELKA) exclusively on the large chain channel supermarket.
In particular, inflation in supermarkets compared to August 2024 is +1.59%, with the growth rate slowing compared to previous months. Prices remain on a monthly basis ( +0.18%), while in the rolling 12 months the rise is +0.78%.
At the same time, the survey records significant price reductions in non-foods such as detergents (-6.26%) and basic groceries (-5.83%), but significant increases are observed in categories such as fresh meats (+11.31%) and sugar-chocolates (+9.02%), cocoa.
The following conclusions came from the survey:
1. Inflation in supermarket chains is in the order of +1.59% in August 2025 compared to August 2024, with a tendency to decline at slightly lower levels compared to the previous 3 months.
It is noted in addition that the prices of August 2025 compared to the previous month of July 2025 are fixed +0.18%. In total, the rolling of 12 months (July 2024-June 2025) records an increase of +0.78%.
In general, the first eight months of 2025 record mild inflationary pressures (1.27%) which are mainly attributed to international raw material increases (cocoa, meat, coffee).
2. Higher price reductions in August 2025 compared to August 2024 are recorded in the categories:
- Detergents and cleaning items: -6.26%
- Grocery Foods: –5.83%
- Foods & Types for Pets: -4.09%
- Disposable items, household items: -3.46%
- Stationals, Cosmetics & Personal Hygiene: -2.83%
The reductions recorded are the result of both the normalization of the market and the reduction in producer prices in certain products.
Larger increases in August 2025 compared to August 2024 are recorded in the categories:
- Fresh meats: +11.31%
- Cookies, chocolates, sugar: +9.02%
- Fresh fish and seafood: +5.69%
- Breakfast species & drinks: +5.61%
- Frozen: +5.29%
3. The largest reductions were recorded in detergents and cleaning items and grocery foods (due to the de -price de – olive oil).
In relation to increases in fresh meats, this is a development due to increases in international prices in imported species and especially to the calf due to the decrease in animal capital (it is noted that the majority of calf and pork consumed in Greece are imported in Greece) and secondly in Greece). The international prices of cocoa and coffee certainly affect the categories of sweets, and breakfast and drinks.
During the period August 18-25, the producer price of the meat for a young male animal in the European Union has increased by 34.1% compared to the same week in 2024 and 21.58% compared to the beginning of 2024, while the trend remains growing. It is noted that the big companies in the industry are used to have annual agreements with producers and importers to have fixed prices which partly holds the final prices.
In relation to cocoa price, increases in raw material prices internationally over the last 2 years due to climate conditions were very high. In June 2025, 168.9% are recorded compared to the same month in 2023. Compared to the same month 2024 prices are relatively close, but prices have reached $ 10,710 per tonne in the past few months, at the same time prices have not yet stabilized. It is noted that due to the nature of cocoa products, by -products (chocolate) and finished products (sweets) are produced in subsequent years at different prices.
4. In order to perceive the gravity of these categories, in a hypothetical scenario, if there were no increases in fresh meat and cocoa (which affects many individual chocolates, biscuits, breakfasts, sprouts, drinks, dairy, dairy, dairy, ice cream Supermarkets in Greece would be zero at the level of -0.2 to 0.2% compared to 2024.
5. The school supplies
Compared to school prices, prices in supermarkets in August 2025 are at the same level as 2024, in particular a slight decrease of 0.70% on average in the relevant categories. As shown in Table 2, the fluctuations in the individual subcategories are very small with the stationery with a reduction and the types of transportation (bags, caskets) a slight increase.
6. The reasons to which the tendency of broader product prices are attributed to supermarkets:
- Inflation Defense. Prices have been restrained in the last eighteen months in large grocery stores due to large volumes of products that are moving, economies of scale, their organizational-technological readiness and private label products.
- Offers and discounts. Offers and discounts on the organized retailement channel are more in number, in intensity and percentage discounts, which affects the final prices of the products.
- High traffic speed. Price retaining appears much faster in large points of sale due to higher stock speeds. That is, they move their stock faster and soon make new markets to replenish stocks.
- Effect of private label products. Private label sales shares are larger in large supermarket chains due to a widest range of code, and over the last two years they have been increasing.