Alex Trelinski
FOOD shoppers in Spain are cutting down on purchases due to the rising cost of produce.
Figures from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food showed that between November 2021 and October 2022, the annual weight of food purchases fell by 9% compared to the previous 12 months.
The actual spend per average household for food and drink came in at €1,585- a fall of 2.8%.
Food prices are running at about double Spain’s overall inflation rate and leapt up as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
Rising energy costs coupled with reduced supplies of staples like wheat and vegetable oil have fuelled the increases.
Families have responded by cutting back on products according to the Ministry’s consumption figures.
Fresh meat demand has dropped by 12.4% in a year with frozen products falling by 19.2%.
Fresh chicken and pork have had the smallest falls at 13.8% and 10% respectively.
Seafood has been worst hit with an average drop in demand by almost 15%, rising to 16.3% for fresh produce.
The dairy sector fell by 6.5% with milk demand down by 5.8% and other products like cheese averaging a 7.4% fall.
Other basic items have seen consumption demand fall like eggs(8.9%), sugar(16.7%), and bread(7.00%).
The Ministry says that despite olive oil prices rising by 36.4%, purchases have only fallen by 8.5%, resulting in a 24.7% increase for olive oil sales.
Demand for fresh vegetables is down by 13.9% and fresh fruit by 12.2%.
As for drinks, wine is down by 13.8%; soft drinks by 6.3%; and bottled water by 2.8%.
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