Almost one in five foods affected by the VAT reduction have raised their price in February, according to Facua

Expands its supermarket complaints before the CNMC and reiterates the need for the Government to set maximum prices on basic foods

9 Feb. () –

Almost one in five of the foods affected by the VAT reduction in Spain have raised their price in February, despite the fact that the royal decree-law approved by the Government at the end of December prohibits applying increases in the business profit margins of all members of the production, distribution or consumption chain, as denounced by Facua-Consumers in Action after analyzing more than 1,000 food prices in eight large distribution chains.

Specifically, the consumer organization has announced that it will expand the complaints it filed last month with the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC), since it has denounced that “to date” they still have not given any kind of response.

In this way, the complaints will be directed against all the chains analyzed such as Alcampo, Aldi, Carrefour, Dia, Eroski, Lidl, Hipercor and Mercadona, although no irregularities were detected in the two monitoring carried out by the association in January, as explained Facua.

The association criticizes the Government’s “lack of transparency” regarding the studies announced by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food through its price observatory, since to date not only have no data been released on its conclusions, but also about how many establishments, how many prices and on what dates the analyzes are being carried out.

The association has reviewed the evolution of 1,020 prices in the eight distribution chains, which took place on February 6 and 7. In them, it has detected that in 178 cases, that is, 17.4%, the price has become more expensive compared to what they had on December 30, once the VAT reduction was applied.

Facua recalled that the products affected by the VAT reduction cannot be subject to increases in business profit margins for at least four months, a period that is extended to six if the underlying VAT for March is not below 5.5 %.

HIPERCOR AND CARREFOUR PRESENT THE GREATEST ABNORMALITIES

According to the Facua report, the largest number of anomalies has been detected in Hipercor, where 53 of the total of 166 prices analyzed have become more expensive (32%), followed by Carrefour, with 45 more expensive products than on December 30 on a sample of 174 prices (26%).

For its part, Aldi has increased 11 of the 61 prices analyzed (18%), while Eroski has done so in 24 of the 136 foods collected in this study (18%). The association has detected nine more expensive prices in Lidl out of a total of 63 foods (14%), while in Dia 17 items of the 139 contemplated have become more expensive (12%).

The two chains where the lowest percentage of price increases have been registered are Alcampo, with nine products out of the total of 139 included in the analysis (6%), and Mercadona, with 10 increases among the 142 prices registered (7%). .

FRUITS AND VEGETABLES, THE MOST AFFECTED

In this way, of the total of 178 prices in which a rise has been detected in their comparison between January and February of this year, 67 are for fruits or vegetables, 35 are milk or dairy products and 30 are olive and sunflower oils.

For their part, 17 price increases have been found among legumes, 10 among rice dishes, and nine among pasta (spaghetti and macaroni), while the remaining ten correspond mainly to bread and eggs.

The biggest price increases in the last month correspond to fruits or vegetables. The price of pomegranates in Carrefour has gone from 1.91 euros/kilo on January 3 -the VAT drop was passed on to the price at the end of December- to 3.99 euros/kilo on February 7 (108.9 % more expensive).

At Dia, the 4-kilo mesh of oranges for juice has gone from costing 3.36 euros a month ago to 5.25 euros this February 7 (56.3% more), while at Hipercor, the package of a A kilo of Brillante Sabroz rice has become 53.3% more expensive, after going from 1.82 euros in January to 2.79 euros this month.

At Aldi, the one-litre Carbonell olive oil has also increased its price by 52.8% in just over 30 days, going from 5.43 euros to 8.30 euros. In all these examples, the chains had passed on the drop in VAT at the beginning of January, neither one cent more nor one less.

After the analysis, Facua has reiterated the “need for the Government to set maximum prices on basic foods”, something for which it is empowered as established in article 13 of the 1996 trade law, as reported.

“It is evident that the drop in VAT on some products has had an extraordinarily slight effect on the shopping cart given the brutal increase in prices that has occurred in the last year,” the consumer organization denounced.