BarcelonaEveryone has noticed for months that commodity prices, such as energy or food, are rising steadily. These increases are corroborated month by month by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of the National Statistics Institute (INE) and which the Russian attack on Ukraine and supply problems have further fueled.
ARA wanted to see first hand how this rise in the shopping basket is materializing. To do so, he compared a purchase of a family of four people of 25 products made on the website of the supermarket of a Catalan chain on April 30, 2021 with the same purchase made this Wednesday. The basket contains basic products that can be found in any home pantry, such as milk, bread, lentils, flour, yogurt, oil, rice or cheese. [vegeu gràfic], as well as cleaning and personal care products. The result is convincing: on April 30, 2021 the bill was 58.7 euros, and this week has risen to 65.63 euros. The increase a year later was 11.8%.
Of the 25 products, all but two have become more expensive: grated cheese, which has fallen from 1.11 euros to 0.99 euros, and the branded dishwasher, which has fallen from 2.95 to 2.90 euros. . Three more products (toilet paper, white-label crushed tomato and also brand-name soft cheese) have zero variation. The most expensive products were the kilo package of strength flour (68.9%), pastry flour (39.8%), two-liter olive oil (35.9%). ) and the pack of milk (22.4%). By contrast, those who have noticed softer price increases are Neutrex Activator (0.26%) or San Miguel Beer (0.15%). 10 of the 25 products have increases of more than 10%.
The weight of inflation in the basket
Powdered cheese
Pecorino romano
Zanetti cheese
scratched P. Reggiano
Peanut Frit Ravich
torr/salat A/C
Dishwasher
all in 1 tablet
Williams deodorant
ice blue
San Miguel beer
especial
Olives Serpis
stuffed anchovies
Santa Rita flour
force
Ferrer lentils
extra pardines
Pa de motlle Bimbo
artisan spelled honey touch
Patates McCain
prefregides
Cheese The cow that
laugh portions
Beaten cocoa
Cacaolat cardboard
Semi milk pack
raise 81178
Powdered cheese
Pecorino romano
Zanetti cheese
scratched P. Reggiano
Peanut Frit Ravich
torr/salat A/C
Dishwasher
all in 1 tablet
Williams deodorant
ice blue
San Miguel beer
especial
Olives Serpis
stuffed anchovies
Santa Rita flour
force
Ferrer lentils
extra pardines
Pa de motlle Bimbo
artisan spelled honey touch
Patates McCain
prefregides
Cheese The cow that
laugh portions
Beaten cocoa
Cacaolat cardboard
Semi milk pack
raise 81178
Powdered cheese
Pecorino romano
Zanetti cheese
scratched P. Reggiano
Peanut Frit Ravich
torr/salat A/C
Dishwasher
all in 1 tablet
Williams deodorant
ice blue
San Miguel beer
especial
Olives Serpis
stuffed anchovies
Santa Rita flour
force
Ferrer lentils
extra pardines
Pa de motlle Bimbo
artisan spelled honey touch
Patates McCain
prefregides
Cheese The cow that
laugh portions
Beaten cocoa
Cacaolat cardboard
Semi milk pack
raise 81178
More climbs from March
But apart from this comparison, the ARA has also been monitoring the evolution of the prices of some of the products in this basket over the last year to see when they started to rise. Specifically, the follow-up was carried out in April, August and December 2021 and March and the end of April 2022.
The pattern repeated is that the largest increases occur in these last two measurements. For example, for the package of six cartons of white semi-skimmed milk, both in April and August 2021 kept the price, but from then on it went up on each new bill, until it reached 4.26 euros from April 27. The price of a two-liter bottle of olive oil rose every month of follow-up, although the biggest jump came from March to April this year, when it reached 9.49 euros. The reason? Oil has been one of the most expensive products since the Russian attack on Ukraine began, as the country is one of Europe’s leading producers of sunflower oil and war. has caused supply problems in this type of oil and, in return, in the olive.
The rise in food prices, according to the INE, has been recorded in Catalonia between April 2021 and March 2022 (the April data will not be published until mid-May) is 6 , 3%, a figure much lower than the 14% increase in this standard purchase if non-food products are excluded. “It’s very difficult to make a representative basket,” explains José García Montalvo, professor of applied economics at UPF. What is worrying – explains the professor – is that what is known as underlying inflation is rising, which is the one that calculates price variations without taking into account those of energy and fresh food, “because it is it has reached a point where companies can no longer afford it and those that have failed to do so are pushing up prices.
To reverse this unstoppable rise, according to Montalvo, there are two possible ways: “Achieve an income pact in which employers do not raise prices and increase wages, which currently seems very complicated, or enter an economic recession that makes inflation plummet. ” But, logically, the latter solution would affect the labor market, among others.