"Pizzaflation"

Ready-made pizza inflation in Austria above EU average

In an EU comparison, Austrians have to swallow higher price increases for frozen pizza.

(Bild: ©photocrew - stock.adobe.com)

Austria has recently been relatively far ahead of the rest of Europe, and not just in terms of the very hard inflation data. Fans of pizza and quiche, who buy these dishes in stores to eat at home, have also had to swallow relatively higher price increases for these dishes in Austria than fans of these dishes in many other European countries. This "pizza inflation" is shown in a recent analysis by the statistics office Eurostat. 

Of course, opinions differ on the actual "pizza-ness" of many of these ready-made products. Pizza lovers and, above all, pizza bakers can argue about this. Experience has shown that a Neapolitan pizzaiolo (professional pizza chef) should not be led to believe that a ready-made pizza is a pizza. Nevertheless, it is hard to imagine most European households without frozen pizzas, at least throughout the year and for in-between meals.

Declining "pizzaflation"
In December 2023, the price of shop-bought pizza and quiche in the EU was on average 5.9% higher than in December 2022. According to Eurostat, the price increase from the end of 2021 to December 2022 was significantly higher at 15.9%. The authority therefore speaks of a "slowdown in the inflation rate for pizza and quiche prices in 2023" - in other words, a decline in "pizza inflation".

At 9.5%, the price increase in Austria surveyed by Eurostat was well above average in an EU comparison - as a reminder, annual inflation in the Alpine republic was slightly lower at 7.8% according to Statistics Austria. Last year, however, ready-made pizza and quiche eaters in Hungary (+13.4 percent), Luxembourg (+11.3 percent), Latvia (+10.6 percent) and Germany (+9.9 percent) were hit even harder by price increases for ready-made pizzas and quiches.

Pizza price deflation in the Netherlands
At the other end of the scale, there was even frozen pizza price deflation in the Netherlands, i.e. a fall of 0.9%. Denmark (+0.6%) and Belgium (+1%) recorded the smallest price increases.

Prices for "pizza and quiche" as a product group are also included in various shopping baskets of statistical authorities such as Statistics Austria. For the domestic authority, the weighting for 2023 in the CPI was 0.07721 points and in the HICP 0.08035 out of a total of 100 points (the same for "frozen pizza" alone). All 118 food (groups) together accounted for 10.29468 (CPI) and 10.76027 (HICP) points.