Palma expensive to live, cheap to eat

Palma.—Nonetheless the Balearic capital is still one of the cheapest when it comes to filling up your shopping trolley.

Every family in the region spends on average 6,760 euros per year on food, compared with Bilbao (7,250), Las Palmas (7,200) and San Sebastian (7,130), the three most expensive cities.

One of the few exceptions when it comes to food is bread. Balearic residents pay more for their bread than anyone else. A bagatte can cost anything between 1,20 euros and 1,40 euros according to the study, although some shops in the city sell them for 50 cents

The fierce competition and growing amount of supermarkets in Palma has forced chains to lower their food prices, but in other trades the offer is not as varied, creating a monopoly effect, and as such, raising the prices of several other products, petrol being one of them.

The price for a litre of fuel in the region is the highest in the country.

Bus tickets for non residents are roughly on the same level while municipal taxes and the cost of renting an apartment is also amongst the highest in Spain.

While many of these costs are considered "extra" and an outcome of "geographical effects", when it comes to food the study shows competition "is real". Supermarket chains "fight between themselves to offer the best food prices", forcing small and medium businesses to follow suit or risk losing customers.