Facua denounces that half of the food affected by the VAT reduction is more expensive in August than in January

2023-08-31 18:04:41

The consumer rights association Facua has updated this Thursday the price analysis that it has maintained since the beginning of the year to study the impact of the VAT reduction on food. According to the latest data, 48.4% of items are more expensive in August than in January, from which time basic food products such as panlas floursthe lechelos cheeseslos eggs waves fruits, vegetables, vegetables y legumes are taxed with a VAT of 0% and the oil and the pastas, 5% (when it is usually 10%). In other words, according to what the measure intended, this series of foods would have to be cheaper than then, but, on the other hand, many of them are even more expensive.

The organization has carried out its study based on data collected in Alcampo, Aldi, Carrefour, Yes, buy it, Lidl, hypercor y Mercadonaand the conclusion is that 471 of 976 items compared are now more expensive than on December 30, 2022. Not only that, Facua also denounces that this percentage is increasing: while in January only increases were detected in 6, 7% of articles in the sample, since then the percentage has been climbing until reaching the 48.4% registered in August, a rate that is almost one point and a half higher than that of July.

“Facua is going to expand again the complaints that it has been presenting monthly before the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC), which to date has not given any kind of response”, announces the agency in a statement, in which it also recalls that the Royal decree law on which this measure is based indicates that “none of these products can increase in price unless there are cost increases”. “Facua insists on demanding that the CNMC investigate which increases have been the result of cost increases and which ones imply increases in profit margins for any member of the food chaina practice prohibited by royal decree law”, completes.

CNMC analysis

The body to which he appeals has not yet given a direct response to any of the previous demands that Facua has made, but it did publish a report at the beginning of the month that x-rayed the distribution sector generally at the request of the Secretary of State for the Economy and Business Support (SEEAE) and in which he addressed this issue. In essence, his conclusion is that the VAT reduction has been applied correctly in supermarkets and food stores.

But three weeks later, Facua has returned to the charge. She has done so detailing that Carrefour It is the supermarket with the largest number of more expensive products than before (almost 6 out of 10) and that follow this French chain, also with percentages above 50%, Alcampo, Aldiy Lidl.

“Of the total of 471 prices in which Facua has detected a rise in its comparison, 144 correspond to fruits or vegetables [el 30% del total]93 son olive oils [20%] and 63 are rice and pasta [el 13,4%]”adds this consumer association in its statement. They have also detected 70 price increases between milk and dairy38 related to legumes, and many others, although to a lesser extent, in eggs, flours y panes. “The biggest increase, in Alcampo, breaks a record this month: the kilo of fuji apples has gone from costing 1.43 euros in January to now having a price of 3.69″, exemplifies Facua, who also highlights the price increase of a mesh of two kilos of oranges El Mercado In Aldi, from 2.39 euros to close, now, the 5.