Albania is among the poorest countries in Europe, but for some prices it can be compared to the richest countries.

 Albania is among the poorest countries in Europe, but for some prices it can be compared to the richest countries.

One of these products is shoes. On average, a pair of shoes in Albania costs 16% more than the European Union average.

For example, if in the EU, shoes cost 100 euros in the store, in Albania you can buy them for 116 euros.

This is the sixth most expensive price in Europe, after Denmark (125%), Iceland (123.5%), Switzerland (121.6%), Estonia and Finland with 117%.

The cheapest shoes in Europe are found in Turkey, at 30% of the European average, meaning a pair that costs 100 euros in the EU can be bought in Turkey for 30 euros.

Albanians also have to spend more on clothing due to high prices. Clothing costs about 5% more than the European average.

Even in this ranking, Albania is the 11th most expensive.

In first place is Switzerland (44% more than the EU average), while the cheapest is again Turkey, with about 30% of the EU average.

As the retail trade of clothing and footwear has been reorganized over the last decade towards shopping malls, prices appear to have become more expensive.

According to Eurostat data, in 2014, clothing prices were 85% of the European average, while those of shoes were 92%.

Footwear exceeded the EU average in 2020 (102.9%), while clothing in 2023.

Expensive prices lead Albanians to Gabi

Other data shows that with the high inflation of the last two years, there is a shift in the purchases of Albanian consumers, who have stopped buying new clothing, shifting to used ones.

INSTAT data from foreign trade show that in the first 8 months of 2024, textile and footwear imports in value decreased by 8.6% and, on the other hand, imports of used clothing increased by 4.7%.

During January-August 2024, imports of used clothing reached 2.47 billion lek from 2.3 billion lek in the same period in 2023.

While new textiles and clothing recorded 56 billion lek in imports, up from 61.4 billion last year in the first 8 months.

Clothing imports account for the largest share of imports, reaching 47.3 billion lek in January-August 2024, with an annual decrease of 8.47%.

Footwear imports recorded a value of 8.8 billion lek in the same period from 9.7 billion lek that were imported in the same period of 2023 with an annual decrease of 9.3%.

The decline in imports of clothing and footwear continues for the second consecutive year, as in 2023 they were 4.2% lower than in 2022.

On the other hand, the used clothing market is growing year by year. The import value exceeded 24 million euros in the first 8 months, with an annual growth of 4.7%./ Monitor