affected by rising prices. food forced families change your shopping habits to control bleeding, which represents recent supermarket visits. And it’s not just about getting in the car more selling products or lower quality: in addition the majority of homes lamb or fish instead of chicken or directly ready meals reduced the volume of their purchasesalthough they did not manage to lower the price of the last ticket.
On the contrary, according to the latest data from the Food Consumption Panel prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture, average cost per person In the province of Alicante and the rest of the Valencian Community increased 11.4%on the contrary The volume of purchased products decreased by 4.8%.
Specifically, if in February 2022 each person in the state spent an average of 115.59 euros on food, the figure rose in the same month of this year. From 128.75 Euros. From 45.49 kilos per person consumed a year ago, 43.30 kilos, according to the same sources.
The detailed data provided by this study leaves no room for doubt and clearly shows that main victims of this part most expensive products, even if it means giving up some principles. For example, he organic product consumption -usually, at a higher price- fell 22.6% In this period, unfortunately, manufacturers who have to market a large part of their products without this label and at a lower cost in order not to throw their products away.
Another big loser fishHE 13.2% decrease globally, whether fresh or frozen, but as with most categories there are differences. Thus, while being more affordable like fish anchovy, they keep their type and even increase their sales shield 89% collapsed and emperor They drop by 38%, a percentage very similar to that of shrimp.
A trend that also affects products such as sausages and other cold meats. In the case of hamit was noticed 13.9% decrease in Iberian, durationConsume up to 4.2% more “regular” smoked hamusing the name of the ministry panel.
From fresh to processed
In today’s shopping carts also less fresh fruit and vegetableswith decreases of 9.7% and 12.9%, respectively. In any case, the figure refers to kilos consumed, because despite this contention, the people of Alicante spend 4% of their budget on vegetable purchases as a result of inflation.
On the other hand, among the categories that increase their consumption, meat: Each of the residents gained about 3.6 kilos in February, which is 7.7% more. Of course, a concentrated increase in products such as chicken (+19.6%) or pork (+9.5%), Lamb, whose cost is much higher, fell by 25.5%.
The other large category benefiting from this situation is convenience foodThis figure rises to 16.5% in frozen ready meals, which increase their sales by 9.5% in just one year.
On behalf of the president of the Valencia Consumers and Users Association (Avacu), Fernando MonerThe data “reflect the situation faced by households after a year of rising prices. significant loss of purchasing power majority of families”. From the organization, they insist on the need. Protect socks like VAT deduction The government’s newly expanded core products and even expand to other types of products such as meat and fishthose that are left out despite having more weight in the shopping cart.
In any case, Móner points out that the essential thing is: attack the root causes what causes this increase in prices is to stabilize the situation and reduce the cost of these products as much as possible. Of course, the consumer spokesperson warns food will hardly return to pre-pandemic levels.
In this context, it should not be forgotten that despite the moderation in recent months, the average increase in food prices in the last year is still close to 13% according to the latest INE data, and it is quite far from this increase. prices. fees.