Food inflation: the price of our shopping basket remains stable

2023-11-15 07:36:32

Finally a lull? At the start of November, the price of our basket, made up of 31 consumer products whose price evolution we have been following since February, remains stable compared to October. As a reminder, at the start of the year, this basket cost us 115 euros, or 15 euros more than a year earlier. According to the statement, carried out on Monday November 13, on the website of a major retail brand, the amount displayed on the receipt is now 121.29 euros compared to 121.71 euros in October, i.e. a very slight decrease of 0.35%.

In detail, an overwhelming majority of items keep the same price from one month to the next. Only three have seen their prices drop, notably the 8-slice package of ham (-46 cents) or the 500 g of organic tomatoes (-1 euro). As for the chocolate flavored biscuits, the set of two is no longer on sale, we based ourselves on the price of the set of 4 (5.49 euros), divided by two. You will therefore have to pay more initially but it will become more advantageous in the end.

For increases, there are also three: eggs, braided brioche but especially oranges for juice (+ 24.84%).

Overall, it is only a few cents less which does not change much in the daily lives of the French, but which proves that the peak of inflation has passed. According to the latest provisional figures from INSEE, the increase in consumer prices would be 4% over one year in October (including 7.7% for food) compared to 4.9% in September.

“The inflationary crisis is behind us”, declared last week, Bruno Le Maire, Ministry of the Economy on BFMTV, while announcing “prices which will fall and which will fall sooner”, notably on wheat and oil, while commercial negotiations between distributors and manufacturers have been brought forward by a month.

Don’t expect miracles

However, you should not expect miracles. It is not even certain that the lull will last very long, with some manufacturers already announcing price increases for 2024. This is the case of Coca-Cola which is demanding 7%! According to a study by Nielsen IQ, France is also the country where inflation is the highest over the period from January 2022 to the end of August 2023 (+ 17.9% compared to 12.4% in Portugal or 15 .5% in Germany).

“From the start of the second half of 2023, the rate of inflation in Europe began to decline and then fall, with France being an exception by only following this trend later,” notes the study.