The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, announced plans to meet next Monday with the Congress of Deputies this Wednesday. The Food Chain Observatory is examining how food prices moved after the National Institute of Statistics released January data on the impact of the VAT cut approved earlier in the year. This body brings together agricultural groups, industry players, and distributors, where the minister will seek broad support to keep pressing the fight against high inflation.
The government remains hopeful about food prices and believes they will stay moderate.
Inflation remains elevated, the minister acknowledged, but has fallen by three tenths since late 2022. From 15.7 to 15.4, the trend shows improvement. Planas expressed satisfaction at the initial objective of stabilizing prices and signaled plans for a gradual step down in costs tied to consumer spending.
According to him, the latest Wednesday data is not a poor result. He attributed much of the outcome to government measures while also praising the role of industry. In a climate where some political groups call for larger grocery chains to contribute more, Minister Ione Belarra urged Mercadona’s leadership to reinforce company commitments.
Because the VAT reduction on food was collected as required by law, there is an ongoing effort to translate that commitment into tangible results. The aim is to keep exploring how to advance inflation-fighting strategies through collaboration with companies and other stakeholders in the food chain. The goal remains to ensure that dominant market players cannot easily dictate prices.
The minister recalled that Spain has posted the lowest inflation in the European Union and linked these positive indicators to growth forecasts from the European Commission. The government’s measures, under Minister Pedro Sánchez, are beginning to take shape, even as crises linked to energy costs and the post-pandemic period continue to pose challenges.
EU presidency
Planas highlighted the role of the government, noting that through various decrees approved by the Council of Ministers, ordinary costs for farmers and small producers were alleviated. He remained optimistic about future steps, such as establishing reference costs that could inform pricing. A forthcoming Advisory Council meeting was hinted at for later in the month.
He touched on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and its pillars, including the emphasis on generational change within the primary sector. This is identified as a principal objective with a planned investment of 250 million euros per year. An additional premium is expected for new farmers, and modernization efforts, alongside tax exemptions for investments linked to environmental sustainability, form key components of a plan running through 2027.
The speech also outlined Spain’s EU Presidency during the latter half of the year and underscored the importance of two informal councils to be held in Turkey, one in Vigo and another in Cordoba. The Vigo meeting will focus on fishing and the Cordoba meeting on agriculture, hosted in Galicia. Topics include improving energy efficiency in the sector and the technological revitalization of ships. The overarching aim is to apply new technologies to meet climate-related challenges.
Planas warned of forthcoming scenarios marked by reduced water availability due to lower rainfall. Drought seasons are on the horizon, making it necessary to seek resources for desalination and other solutions, including resilient seeds and crops capable of withstanding changing climatic conditions.