In a study by the OCU, Carrefour and Alcampo stand out as the supermarket chains that have increased the most, by 45% and 43% respectively. The consumer organisation demands that the VAT reduction be maintained beyond June and that it also be applied to meat and fish.

It is no secret that filling the shopping basket has a higher cost than a few years ago, even so, a report by the Organisation of Consumers and Users (OCU) which has analysed more than a hundred consumer products in seven large chains, and which includes more than 55,000 prices, it warns that the prices of food and drug store products in supermarkets have risen by an average of 38% in three years.

The study includes the online supermarket prices of Alcampo, Carrefour, Condis, Día, El Corte Inglés, Eroski and Mercadona in ten different cities throughout Spain. The chains that have risen their prices the most are Carrefour and Alcampo, with 45% and 43% respectively. They are followed by Mercadona, right in the middle, with 38%, and El Corte Inglés (Supercor, Hipercor and Opencor) with 37%.

Eroski is below the average, with 34%, and among the chains with the lowest price increases are Condis, with 33%, and Día, with 32%. The only large chains not taken into account in the study are Lidl and Aldi, as they do not have an online shop.

Mild olive oil (225%), white sugar (91%), orange juice (81%), eggs (67%) and rice (66%) are the foods that have risen most in price. The most moderate rises, although they are above 20%, were recorded for fruit and vegetables and drugstore products.

More subsidies in front of persisting inflation

The Consumers and Users Organisation recognises that there are factors that justify this increase to some extent, such as the rise in the cost of fertilisers or fuel. Still, it warns that prices at points of sale can be up to six times higher than the prices received by farmers and stockbreeders.

Faced with this scenario, the consumer organisation demands that the VAT reduction be extended beyond June and that it also be applied to meat and fish, given that 50% of families have difficulties in acquiring them.

On the other hand, it calls for a substantial increase in the 200 euro cheque for families with an income of less than 27,000 euros, as well as an increase in the number of beneficiaries, raising the income limit. It also points out that compliance with the Law on the Food Chain should be monitored more closely and that distributors should try to contain their margins so as not to feed the inflationary spiral.

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