Filling the shopping basket is increasingly difficult for us due to the period of inflation that we face both in Spain and worldwide. We have seen the rise in prices (or some shortage crisis) reflected in many products and supermarkets, something inevitable beyond external factors such as the pandemic or the war in Ukraine. The OCU has also emphasized where the biggest increases have occurred and, furthermore, which is the Spanish supermarket where it is most profitable to shop and be able to save more on our salaries to make ends meet.
According to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), The CPI for food and non-alcoholic beverages has increased by 32.1% between January 2020 and 2024. Thus, inflation rose again in March, to 3.2%, after it moderated six tenths in February, to 2.8%, due to lower energy prices. It should also be noted that the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages rose less than in the same month of the previous year.
Likewise, the latest report of The OCU establishes that food has become more expensive by 38% in just three years, an increase that far exceeds that experienced by salaries during that period. Likewise, the shopping basket cost significantly more in December 2023 than in the same month of 2020.
What are the most profitable supermarkets in Spain? In this chain you can save more when making the purchase
The OCU appreciates a general increase in the prices of the chains it has examined, considering Alcampo and Carrefour are the supermarkets where prices have increased the most. “The most moderate increases, although they are above 20%, are registered in fruits and vegetables, and in drugstore products. The other food groups such as meat, fish, pasta or preserves experience very similar increases, all between the 34% and 47%,” explains the OCU report.
The organization estimates that a purchase that three years ago cost 100 euros today requires payment of almost 140. And it insists, in both cases the customer leaves the supermarket with “the same things.” Faced with these increases, the OCU calls for “urgent measures to alleviate the difficulties of households in buying food or that they buy poorer quality food because that is what they can afford.”
“Where the tax reduction has been most noticeable is in flour, pasta, rice and some dairy products. In other foods, the reduction is not noticeable because other factors such as poor harvests, production costs or geopolitical tensions,” says the OCU.
In terms of profitability, The OCU points to Mercadona as the most profitable supermarket, and also adds Alcampo among the most profitable chains.