Onions rocketing in price

Of the foodstuffs which are supposedly benefitting consumers through a reduced rate IVA, onions, white grapes and fuji apples are the three foods that increased the most in price in large supermarkets in the last month, according to the study carried out by Facua-Consumidores en Acción in which it analyses the evolution of prices between February and March 2024 in eight chains in a series of basic products including fruits, vegetables, eggs, lentils, rice, and olive and sunflower oils.

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According to the royal decree-law by which this measure is in force, none of the products analysed could increase in price unless there were increases in costs.

Specifically, last month, onions experienced an average monthly price increase of 14%, while the 500-gram tray of white seedless grapes became more expensive on average by 9.6% in the last month and the fuji apple, for its part, cost an average of 9.2% more in March than the previous month. Oranges also registered a notable increase in prices in recent weeks, as did the price of carrots (4.6%), potatoes (3.6%) and olive oil (3.6%).

Sliced ​​mushrooms and a kilo of brown lentils did not register any variation in their prices in the last month.

Foods that cost less in March than in February are the 500-gram tray of strawberries (-35.4%), the dozen eggs (-3.8%), the golden apples (-3.4%), the conference pears (-2.5%), lemons (-1.7%) or sunflower oil (-1.5%).

Olive oil leads the year-on-year increase

Facua has also analysed the year-on-year price variation that has occurred in these same products affected by the IVA reduction. Olive oil leads the year-on-year increase in food prices with an average increase of 75.5%.

Conference pears, for their part, currently cost 30.3% more than a year ago, while the increase in prices for fuji apples has been 28.4% in this same period. Potatoes (15.5%), white grapes (13.5%) and carrots (almost 13%) have also registered a notable price increase.

Of the products analysed by Facua, sunflower oil is the one that has dropped the most in price in the last year. Specifically, it has done so on average by 28.9%, despite the war in Ukraine, one of the principal reasons quoted for many price increases, threatening the supply.

Strawberries, for their part, have accumulated a drop of 12.6% in the last 12 months while iceberg lettuce costs 5.7% less than in March of last year. Both a dozen eggs and a kilo of lemons now cost 2.9% less than in March 2023.

Consumer Affairs responds to Facua complaints

Following the complaints from FACUA, on February 21 the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030 sent a request to the main supermarket and hypermarket chains to ask them to prove that the increases that they have applied since January 2023 to the prices of many basic foods have not involved increases in their profit margins, a practice prohibited in products affected by the IVA reduction. A month and a half later, the Ministry has not clarified whether the chains have responded.

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