The EU may legally be a single market but food prices range widely across its 27 member states, according to data from Brussels, reports Keith Nuthall on just-food.com. The most recent survey of 500 comparable products by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency, shows in 2009 the price of a comparable basket of food and non-alcoholic beverages was more than twice as high in the most expensive EU country than the cheapest. Denmark was nearly 40% above the average. Ireland, Finland, Luxembourg, Austria, Belgium, Germany and France were between 10% and 30% above the average.

At the other end of the spectrum were the Baltic states - Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania - and the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, with price levels between 10% and 30% below the average. Meanwhile, Bulgaria, Romania and Poland saw prices between 30% and 40% below the average. Prices closer to the mean were found in Italy, Cyprus, Sweden and Greece (up to 10% above average), and the UK, the Netherlands, Spain, Slovenia, Malta and Portugal - up to 10% below.