Consumer prices of food and alcoholic beverages in Italy last year grew fourteen times above the average inflation rate, which stood at 0.1 per cent.
The study by farm lobby Coldiretti, based on Istat data from December, showed that the price increases did not benefit the producers, with many products still sold below production costs.
On average, the prices of food goods (including alcohol) rose by 1.4 per cent compared to 2014, due to a reversal in the trend for prices of fresh produce (+1.9 per cent), but also due to the growth in prices of processed food (including alcoholic beverages) and tobacco (+1.0 per cent).
After seven years of consecutive reduction, Italian household spending on food and beverages saw a 0.3 per cent cumulative growth in 2015, a positive trend expected to continue this year.
In a separate study, Coldiretti said €2.95 billion worth of food and beverages went missing from Italian store shelves in 2015, down 5 per cent from the previous year. Wines and spirits top the list of stolen goods, followed by cheeses (such as Grana Padano and Parmigiano Reggiano) and fresh or processed meat. The “most popular” targets are pre-portioned formats or small packages, although theft of pre-sliced and pre-grated products is on the increase.
Supermarket theft is favoured by the fact that most of the products on display are not protected, with the exception of wines. Total expenditure for the prevention and defence of theft by the sector is estimated at €2.42 billion.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
