“Like ice in the sunshine, I’m melting away on this sunny day…” – when the sun really gets going, the ice cream flows out of the mold faster than we can lap it up. That’s part of having fun, as the band Beagles Music Ltd already knew. But in the meantime, the scoop of ice cream has become so expensive at some stands that one can ask oneself whether the purchase is still a pleasure or just upsets the stomach. The online travel provider weloveholidays has analyzed the price development for ice cream and broken down where in Germany and Europe the scoop is cheapest and where those with a sweet tooth have to dig deep into their pockets.
A short excursion into the 80s. At that time, a scoop of ice cream in West Germany often did not cost more than 30 pfennigs. According to the Deutsche Bundesbank, this would correspond to a value of 30 cents. There would probably not even be a sample today for that. In German cities, the price of ice cream has risen by up to 33 percent over the past five years. On average, 1.50 euros per ball are now due in this country. It is currently the most expensive in Munich. The price there rose from EUR 1.73 last year to an average of EUR 2.03 – an increase of around 17 percent. The ball is available in Stuttgart for EUR 1.87 and in Frankfurt am Main for EUR 1.80. Berlin takes 1.77 euros for the ball and Hamburg 1.63 euros. North Rhine-Westphalia delivers the cheapest prices, with Wuppertal leading the way. There, the average ball costs comparatively cheap 1.37 euros.
If you have lost your appetite at such prices, you should avoid the gelato sellers on vacation. In Spain, on average, the ball costs twice as much at three euros and that’s not even the tip of the – sorry – iceberg. The ball is the most expensive at the equivalent of 3.49 euros in Great Britain. In Portugal and Greece, an average of 2.50 euros is due, in France and Italy 2 euros. And don’t expect prices to fall again at some point.
weloveholidays dared to look into the future. To forecast the cost of ice cream in 2028, the online travel provider used TripAdvisor and Statista data to calculate the average cost of a scoop over the past five years, and then added the annual inflation rate per country. The biggest price increase is therefore expected in Portugal, where a scoop of ice cream could cost a crisp 3.70 euros in five years. In Spain and Great Britain, an average of more than 4 euros will probably be due. When it comes to numbers like this, German ice cream lovers can consider themselves almost lucky. According to the forecast, the price in Germany will increase from an average of 1.50 to 1.72 euros by 2028. In a European comparison, that would be the lowest ice cream price.
Not only does inflation play a role in prices, manufacturing costs such as ingredients must also be included. Ice cream that is made in the ice cream shop works with fresh ingredients. If there are price fluctuations in the purchase price or if an ingredient is less available, this also has an impact on the price of the end product.
Source: weloveholidays, Statista Cities, Statista Cities 2, Statista Europe, Worlddata Inflation, dpa
