There is something terrifying about these images. They say a lot about the social crisis caused by inflation in Portugal: in some supermarkets in Lisbon or Porto, cans of tuna at 1.79 euros are now sold enclosed in anti-theft plastic boxes.
And for good reason: since September, thefts of basic food – tuna, but also bread, coffee, rice – have taken off in supermarkets, especially in cities, laments Gonçalo Lobo Xavier, president of the Portuguese Association of distribution (APED), in the weekly Express of October 21, also citing the testimony of security agents.
If the APED does not give a precise figure, it is precisely because the security agents do not report these thefts to the police. “Retirees, students or parents who can no longer feed their children properly, even with two salaries, are reduced to this in the face of soaring priceswarns the European network for the fight against poverty (EAPN). When they are desperate, people commit desperate acts. » In September, inflation jumped to 9.8% – a level close to the average for the euro zone, at 9.9% –, including 17% for food products (against 14.1% in the euro zone) and 21.7% for meat (13.8%).
Less than 554 euros per month
Above all: these increases come as the country emerged particularly weakened from the Covid-19 pandemic. According to data published by Eurostat in September, Portugal is the Member State where the poverty rate has increased the most in 2021: it rose from 16.2% to 18.4% in one year, while it remained stable at around 16.7% in the European Union.
In 2021, the gross domestic product per capita was the equivalent of 74% of that of the European average. This is less than in 2019, before the pandemic, when it had risen to 79%. Today, nearly 2 million people (out of a total population of 10.3 million) live on less than 554 euros per month.
“New middle-class families, which we did not see before, are coming to ask for food aid, and some of those who could give in the past can no longer afford it”, ealso explains Rita Valadas, president of Caritas Portugal, a Catholic NGO helping the poorest. For its part, EAPN calls on the government to take further measures to support households in the face of inflation.
Since this summer, a surge in shelf flights has also been observed in Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain, for the same reasons. Some supermarkets choose to close part of the automatic checkouts to limit the phenomenon. Across the Channel, the Aldi, Tesco and Asda chains have also installed locks on certain basic necessities.