Galery

1

According to the estimates of the National Confederation of Greek Trade this year's holiday turnover of retail shops will be around 6.8 billion euro compared with 7.6 billion euro last year, which means a loss of 800 million euro during a year that was particularly difficult for the market.

The comparison between the holiday turnover of 2013 and that of 2008 when it was 21.9 billion euro is highly disappointing as it means that the holiday turnover has decreased by 68.9% over the past five years. Reduced consumer spending is another sign of this year's Christmas holidays. Turnover would be only 1/3 of that in 2008 and 10.5% lower than in 2012, the main reason for this being the cuts of family budgets and the taxes that households have to pay at the end of the year.

This year's holiday dishes on the table were 2.51% cheaper than last year as shown by a representative survey of the Institute for Trade and Trade Services of the Commercial Chamber. In particular, the cost of the holiday dishes this year was 147.75 euro on average against 151.56 euro last year and 158.93 euro for the same period in 2011. This small difference of 3.81 euro reflects the stagnation of meat prices (according to data from Varvakio market) and some slight increases in the prices of turkey (11.11%) and pork (5.41%). However, the price of local lamb is the same as during last year (7 euro/kg).

A pleasant surprise during the holiday season is the reduced prices of desserts, the average decrease in traditional sweets such as melomakarona and cookies being 11% compared to 2012.

As for the prices of fruit and vegetables, the picture is a bit controversial as the price of cabbage reports the largest decrease (about 29%) followed by a slight decrease in the prices of tomatoes and potatoes (3% and 6% respectively) whereas the prices of apples and lettuce report an increase (of 24.55%  and 15.8% respectively).

There is a decline in the price of cheese, of 13.93%, whereas the prices of other products in the supermarket report both reductions and increases this year.

Despite the fact that the commercial companies are pessimistic about next year, according to Vassilis Korkidis, president of the Chamber of Commerce, 2013 is the last year in which there will be a contraction of trade since in 2014 there will be a gradual stabilization of consumption. The reason for this bold forecast are the periodic surveys conducted by the Chamber and the recent report of the European Commission on small and medium-sized companies, which largely confirms this year's results of the annual report of the Chamber, in which there is a balance between optimism and pessimism, hopefulness and hopelessness, survival and closure.
 
* In 2014, every 5 out of 10 sole proprietors and 4 out of 10 limited liability companies will face reduced sales and profits.
* The majority of respondents in the survey, regardless of the size of the company, expect that there will be no more cuts and that they will be able to retain jobs.
* Almost 4 out of 10 limited liability companies and 5 out of 10 sole proprietors believe that they will probably not be able to serve their financial obligations in 2014.
* Less than 2 out of 10 sole proprietors and only 1 out of 10 limited liability companies believe that they may close in 2014.