The Spanish Consumer Organisation (OCU)'s annual review of supermarket prices has found that the average price of the typical shopping basket has increased by 15.2%, due to inflation.
In response, the OCU has suggested that the Spanish government implements a temporary VAT decrease on food, and offers food vouchers for vulnerable families.
Basket Measurement
In the year to date, OCU has visited 1,180 stores in 65 different Spanish cities, and has collected 173,392 product prices.
OCU has created two main baskets to record prices, one indicating general products (OCU's Basket) and a second for the cheapest options (Economic Basket).
According to the organisation, the cheapest cities in which to purchase an OCU Basket were Vigo and Ciudad Real, whereas the most expensive ones were Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona, Girona and Madrid.
The Year Of Inflation
According to OCU, the current inflationary period is the largest it has recorded in 34 years, since the project began.
According to the organisation, 95% of products have seen an increase in price compared to last year.
The biggest increases were seen in sunflower and olive oil, flour and flour by-products, and bananas, with some categories affected by the war in Ukraine.
Only 12 products registered a price decrease, within hygiene and fruit categories, which OCU has related to seasonal price changes.
Based on the average family budget per year, according to the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE), OCU's Basket will cost €5,568 annually, although savings of as much as €994 are possible if products are bought in cheaper supermarkets.
© 2022 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Amanda Merchán. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
