Since the war in Ukraine began, the price of a basket of essential food items in Portugal has increased by €11.30, or 6.15%, a new study has found.
The data, from Portuguese consumer association Deco, covers the period from 23 February to 6 April.
Between 30 March and 6 April, the price of the same food basket went up by €1.29 (+0.67%), indicating that food price inflation continues to accelerate.
Key Products
Deco has been monitoring the prices of key products, such as turkey, chicken, hake, horse mackerel, onions, potatoes, carrots, bananas, apples, oranges, rice, spaghetti, sugar, ham, milk, cheese and butter.
The association points out that price hikes have been more pronounced for certain products, rising between 10% and 14% in the space of just one week (30 March to 6 April).
These include a loaf of bread (+14%, to €2.00); cereals with honey (+13%, to €2.00); broccoli (+11%, to €2.65); garlic (+10%, to €2.84); ground roasted coffee (+10%, to €3.17); and fish fingers (+10%, to €4.48).
Meat and fish are the product categories with the biggest price rises between 23 February and 6 April – up by 10.02% and 8.91%, respectively.
Dependent On Imports
Portugal is highly dependent on external markets to guarantee the supply of cereals required for domestic consumption.
Currently, cereals account for only 3.5% of national agricultural production – mainly maize (56%), wheat (19%) and rice (16%).
As Portugal is self-sufficient for only 19.4% of cereals – one of the lowest percentages in the world – it has to import around 80% of the cereals that it consumes.
The consecutive increases in consumer prices – namely in products such as fuel and food – may contribute to an increase in the inflation rate in the coming months.
According to estimates by Portugal’s National Statistics Institute (INE), the year-on-year inflation rate amounted to 4.2% in February and 5.3% in March.
Read More: Portuguese Consumers Prefer To Shop In Multiple Supermarkets, Study Finds
© 2022 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest supply chain news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
