2023-12-21 07:30:20
Inflation takes its toll on the Christmas shopping basket again. Once again, the preparation of meals for these holidays is marked by increased pricesand the fact that the price of food directly affects the choice of products to prepare the menu for the people of Girona for the next few days.
Filling the fridge in Girona’s counties is 8.1% more expensive than a year ago, according to figures from the Consumer Price Index (CPI) at the end of November from the National Institute of Statistics (INE). The rise in food prices, however, is not a new fact; by these dates, last year, the shopping basket had already registered a 13.5% year-on-year increase. And this, as it cannot be otherwise, the people of Girona notice it when they go shopping.
“Instead of cooking fish, you will have to cook meat, a cheaper alternative”
«I was looking at the fish and it is very expensive, now I was going to change places to see if I can find meat“, said Joaquim, a regular customer of Mercat del Léó, this Wednesday. He didn’t buy products for Christmas meals, but for his everyday life. “I can see that the fish have risen a lot this week. I will adapt my menu. Instead of making fish, he will touch meat, something cheaper“, he explained. Rosa Maria was another of the people who visited the market this Wednesday. Like Joaquim, she had no intention of buying food for these holidays, although, as a regular customer of the Mercat del Léó, she assured that “there is an increase in prices”, which has caused that this week “I’m adapting the menus a bit”.
“We try to adapt our Christmas meals to the prices by buying less seafood”
A few days before the start of the Christmas festivities, some Girona residents went to the market either to start buying food or to finish it. Ildefons – one of the people who started shopping this Wednesday – reported that the rise in prices is particularly noticeable in fish and shellfish, “it is more expensive than last year”, he said. “When buying, I look at the price, there are things we can buy and things we can’t because of the overpriced Christmas. We adapt the menu to the prices, for example by not buying so much seafood“, explained.
Others, like Assumption, prefer not to be guided by prices when preparing meals. She admits that food has become more expensive compared to last year, however, she reports that maintains the tradition of eating goat on December 24. “We will save on other things”, he assured.
The goat, in fact, is one of the foods where the increase in prices has been reflected, as explained by Joan Gironell, owner of the Gironell Butchery. He says that every year people especially notice the increase in the price of fish, although he admits that meat also goes up “a little”. “I have not touched prices, everything was a little more expensive and I have chosen to keep the same prices as last year”, he says. The butcher’s owner reports that this week there has been an increase in customers, although he says that “people are farsighted and have been buying for a few days already».
The president of the Associació del Mercat del Lleó, Marta Camps, explains that “there are raw materials that have had a more significant increase and this has forced us to pass it on to the final price, but themost are having the normal increase for these holidays». At the Lion’s Market, among the most expensive products are shrimps and crayfish, which touch 100 euros per kilo.
An increase of 4.3% in December
During the first weeks of December, the price of food has increased by 4.3%, compared to the prices they had at the end of November, according to the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU). This year the increase is much greater than the one that occurred last year around these dates, which was 2.4%, but it is in line with those recorded in previous years. The prices of the Christmas basket are on average 1.6% above those registered last year.
Galician barnacles are the product that rises the most (+21%), closely followed by clams and pike (+20%). It is followed by oysters (+9%), sea bass (+7%), Iberian bait ham (+3%), or lamb (+2%). The OCU warns that most of the prices of the products in the Christmas basket “remain at historic highs”.
On the other hand, Mercabarna’s Fresh Food Wholesalers predict a Christmas campaign similar to that of 2022 with a marked influence of the drought. According to the vice-president of the Association of Mercabarna Wholesale Companies, Jaume Flores, “for climatic reasons both grapes and goats will be more expensive” this Christmas. On the other hand, “beef will be one of the star products lowering its price and frozen seafood can also be found cheaper”. The wholesalers expect to distribute around 103,000 tons of fruit and vegetables, fish and seafood, and meat and poultry this December. Flores points out that they face the holidays “with concern about inflation but with the respite given by the recent IPC data on fresh food”.
During the traditional press conference of the Mercabarna Fresh Food Wholesalers just before Christmas, Flores recalled a few days ago that the last few months have been “complicated due to the price increase that started in January” but that since of October “the situation has returned to normal and this makes them optimistic”.
Despite this normality, the drought continues to influence the consumption of fresh food. As Flores explains, for climatic reasons this Christmas products, such as grapes and artichokes, will be found in less quantity, worse quality and higher prices.
A similar budget
According to the OCU, most Spaniards have a budget for Christmas similar to other years, while 21% of respondents say they will spend more in 2022, and 17% say they will spend less money this year. The expenditure forecast is only 10 euros more than last year. According to the weighted average, the OCU survey numbers this expenditure at 745 euros.
About 190 euros of this budget will be used for celebrations, lunches and parties, while people are expected to spend more than 70 euros on travel and the lottery. However, more than half of citizens’ Christmas budget will be spent on gifts. Respondents expect to spend, on average, 396 euros on gifts alone.
Other studies, on the other hand, foresee lower spending than last year by a large part of the population. In this sense, according to data from Auctane, it is estimated that seven out of ten citizens plan to spend less this Christmas than last year. The same research highlights spending on social and leisure events as one of citizens’ preferences, above other material product purchases.
Intentions to reduce spending will be accompanied by a set of strategies for savings, such as shopping during the Black Friday season or shoppers waiting for the sales to arrive to acquire the products, report from the Betterfly platform.
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