Asufin shows its concern about the concertation of prices in certain products such as rice, olive oil or milk
MADRID, 28 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The basic shopping basket in Spain has become 1.89% more expensive in 2023, despite the discounted VAT approved by the Government, going from an average of 33.67 euros to 34.31 euros, according to the Association of Financial Users (Asufin) in a statement.
Specifically, if the VAT reduction had not been applied, food prices would have risen by 6.27%, to 36.46 euros, which is why Asufin points out that the measure has not had the desired effect of decrease, but It has contributed to cushioning the increases in many products.
In this way, the association has confirmed that this measure applied at the end of 2022, which led to the reduction of VAT, has contributed to prices starting a downward path until the first quarter, which was truncated starting in April, when They undertook an increase that led to the price level prior to the VAT reduction being exceeded in October, and in November and December this trend was consolidated.
Likewise, the association has expressed its concern about the price coordination of certain products, such as rice, olive oil or milk.
Thus, in the case of rice, the price differences this year between the five chains have been only 0.30%. In fact, December closed with four of the five brands at 1.30 euros per kilo for their white label, and only one, Alcampo, with a different price, 1.29 euros, one cent cheaper.
In the case of olive oil, Asufin has also detected similar prices, with a 0.5% difference, with all of them at 9.25 euros per liter, except Dia with 9.45 euros, while in the case of milk All the chains have closed the year with a price of 5.46 euros for six liters, except Alcampo with 5.4 euros, one cent less per liter.
On the opposite side, it is especially fruits and vegetables, often popular products with specific offers, that have shown the greatest differences throughout the year with 20.1% in potatoes, 19.6% in bananas or 19. .2% in eggs.
One of the products that has increased its price the most has been olive oil, which is the main cause of the increase in prices of the basic basket with an increase of 51.4% this year, but it is not the only one, since that eggs have also increased significantly with 8%, followed by fruits and vegetables with 6.9%.
The rest of the categories have had a negative evolution, highlighting sunflower oil with a drop of 38.1%, flour (-26.40%) and pasta (-17.9%), which had a very strong increase. important in 2022 due to the effect of the War in Ukraine, so they have part of this increase.
By chain, the association has also detected important differences, of 10.07% between the most expensive, El Corte Inglés, with 35.92 euros for the basic basket, and the cheapest Alcampo, with 32.30 euros. However , Alcampo, with an increase of 6.53%, is the one that has made its basic basket more expensive, followed by Carrefour (1.51%), El Corte Inglés (1.21%) and Mercadona (0.86%), while that Dia is the only chain with a very modest price drop of -0.06%.
