we face one of the driest years since 1970, at least in large areas of Spain, according to meteorological records. The evidence is notable in Extremadura or Catalonia, very remote regions, and in large areas of both Castillas and Andalusia, such as in Córdoba, where not a thread of water runs through the channels of its rivers. The forecasts are not very rosy and the forecasts, at least in the medium term, do not point to widespread rains that mitigate the situation. We can rejoice on the terraces with the sun shining at full power in March and venture a beach Easter, but we must be aware of what awaits us.
Drought severely threatens agricultural production and therefore not only puts our supply at riskbut it points to a rising prices of food, both fresh and processed, some of which have doubled in cost in just a few months.
The Bank of Spain has just forecast a rise in food prices for the 12.2% for this year. The cause? Not all costs have been transferred to products yet.
But the Bank of Spain has not taken into account the weather factor, something that due to its extreme volatility is difficult for the institution to quantify.
To the problems in the harvests is added another consequence of the drought: the increase in energy prices and, consequently, the electricity bill and also the price of food, whose energy component is more than notable.
In fact, the natural gas analyst for the International Energy Agency (IEA), Jean-Baptiste Dubreuil, acknowledged yesterday the potential energy stresses due to the lack of rain and the state of the French nuclear park, under general review. In his speech at the conference organized by the Spanish Energy Club, Dubreuil stressed the electrical uncertainties due to the lack of rainfall, which generates Doubts about the hydraulic power generation capacity –which already fell by almost 40% in 2022 precisely because of the drought–. We can’t predict the weather for April or May, but it will have to rain a lot to prevent food inflation from skyrocketing further.