Spain leads the EU in food price rises, with only Cyprus faring worse

In August, Spain recorded a 2.3% year-on-year rise in food prices, behind only Cyprus (3.8%) and well above France and Italy (1.1% each) and Germany (0.2%). In September, the INE raised the figure to 2.7%.

There is a figure that keeps coming up at dinner tables and deserves a closer look: food prices in Spain rose **2.3%** year-on-year in August, according to the latest Eurostat data. Only one country in the European Union posted a higher figure, and it is hardly an agricultural powerhouse. It is **Cyprus**, at **3.8%**, an island that imports most of what it eats. The comparison stings, but the numbers are there and deserve more than a shrug.

## What the Eurostat and INE data show

Among Europe's large economies, food has become far less expensive. **France** and **Italy** recorded a year-on-year increase of **1.1%** in August, less than half Spain's rate. **Germany** barely moved, at **0.2%**. And in some countries prices actually fell: **Belgium** kept them stable, the **Netherlands** cut them by **1%**, **Denmark** by another **1%**, and **Sweden** posted the sharpest drop on the continent, at **6.2%**.

It did not stop there. In September, Spain's **National Statistics Institute (INE)** published final data showing the rise in food prices climbing to **2.7%**. In other words, far from easing, the pressure on the shopping basket got worse. Spain thus maintains one of the highest food inflation pressures in the entire European Union, in a context where the overall Spanish CPI stood at **4.9%**, according to figures used by the sector.

## Supermarkets say they are absorbing costs

Supermarket chains argue they are cushioning the blow. They absorb part of the increases, adjust margins and improve operational efficiency so as not to pass the rises straight on to the shelves. The industry association **Asedas** puts the accumulated extra cost from dearer energy and fuel since the outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East at more than **130 million euros**. That works out at between **20 and 25 million euros a month**.

The breakdown of that extra cost has three clear items: electricity balancing services have soared **53%** in a year, diesel has become **35.5%** more expensive, and raw materials for making plastic packaging are up **25%**. Asedas stresses that food prices rose last month more than two points below the headline CPI and argues that the variety of products and brands gives consumers tools to fight the increases. The association insists the supply chain is running efficiently and that some restraint has been observed since March.

## Industry calls for aid while the Government calls for restraint

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, **Luis Planas**, last week called on companies, at the VI Retail and Mass Consumption Forum, to avoid making their products more expensive. The sector's response is that its room for manoeuvre is running out. The **Spanish Federation of Food and Beverage Industries (FIAB)** has warned that the measures announced by the Government to tackle the energy shock stemming from the Gulf conflict are not enough, and is calling for direct aid, guarantees and liquidity to prevent rising energy and logistics costs from jeopardising companies' operations.

Some people, in forums and informal conversations, attribute the rise to higher internal demand driven by population growth. It is a hypothesis that circulates, but it is not backed by the data handled by Eurostat or the INE, which point to energy, logistics and raw material costs as the documented factors. Supply and demand play their part in any market, but turning that hunch into the sole explanation for a specific figure would require far more evidence than is on the table.

What is documented is that Spain has spent months with food inflation far above that of its European neighbours, that supermarkets warn they cannot absorb costs indefinitely, and that industry is calling for direct help. If those pressures continue, a growing share of the increases will eventually be passed on to the final price paid by the consumer. It is worth remembering that any spending or investment decision based on these figures should be checked with a financial adviser.