Although Spain is now the country with the lowest overall inflation, due to the containment of electricity prices, it leads the large EU economies in terms of food price increases, only behind Germany.
Fig. 1. Year-on-year % rate of food inflation in October 2022
Evolution of food price increases
Spain is at the head of the five countries with the greatest economic weight -those which are comparable- in the rise in the price of many food products.
Eggs have risen by 25.5% in Spain, 19.8% in Germany, 19.7% in the Netherlands, 19% in Italy and 14.8% in France. Fruit has soared by 11.8% in Spain, while the increases in the rest are lower: 7.9% in France, 6.6% in Italy, 6.3% in Germany and 4.7% in the Netherlands. The same has happened with wine and beer.
In many other basic foods, Spain is in second place in terms of rises in this group of five EU cuntries. Thus, bread and cereals have risen by 19%, behind Germany (19.6%), but ahead of increases in Italy (15.9%), the Netherlands (11.3%) and France (11.2%). This was also the case for yogurts.
In other products such as meat, rice, cheese or olive oil, the increases recorded in Spain are in line with those of the other four Member States.
A situation mainly affecting low incomes
The rise in food prices in a generalized inflation environment is particularly worrisome because food is a product with very little elasticity. For this reason, food inflation affects all families, being especially detrimental to the purchasing power of families with lower income levels, since these also are the ones that spend a greater proportion of their expenses on food purchases.
According to estimates by the Ministry of Agriculture, Spanish households spend around 15% of their income on food. This percentage rises to 19.2% if families have an income of 1,000 euros or less and drops to 11% if they have an income of more than 5,000 euros.