Supermarket sales soar 35 pct

Greek supermarkets have cashed in over 615 million euros in just four weeks - i.e. in the first month of the coronavirus epidemic in Greece - as fear of what is yet to come led to consumers panic buying large quantities of disinfectants and food with a long shelf life.

However, that trend does appear to be tailing off, likely because most are now all stocked up, along with the curfew and the defensive consumption behavior many are expected to develop in the coming days as a result of job insecurity.

The updated statistics by IRI market researchers for the period from February 24 to March 22 showed that supermarket turnover in the 340 main product categories came to 615.01 million euros, up 35.1 percent from 455.25 million euros in the same period a year earlier.

From the start of the year until March 22, supermarket turnover grew 13.1 percent year-on-year as...