Italian families in 2023 cut food purchases by 5.5 billion euros
Net of inflation, in 2023 families cut food purchases for a total of 5.5 billion euros, due to the high prices that make daily shopping increasingly a drain. This was stated by Codacons, commenting on the arrival of the card ‘Dedicated to you’ launched by the government to help families in difficulty.
I study
In the last period, purchases by Italians in the food sector have collapsed in volume by -3.8% on an annual basis, compared with spending on food and drink which, due to high prices, rises in value by more than double, +7.7%. This means that, net of the effects of inflation, a family with two children cuts food spending on average by 292 euros per year, with lower purchases in the sector totaling -5.5 billion euros in Italy. A study conducted by Codacons attests that inflation is still very high for some consumer products: this is the case, for example, of sugar, whose retail price lists increased by +46.6% in the last month compared to last year, or of rice (+32.4%), while the prices of olive oil rise on average by +26.6%. Heavy price increases also for potatoes (+26.5%), preserved milk (+25.7%), ice cream (+19.9%), eggs (+13.5%), mineral water (+12.9%) , frozen fish (+12.6%).
President Rienzi: “Fighting speculation”
“We believe that the government would do better to adopt measures aimed at bringing down retail price lists for all consumers in the long term, and to fight speculations that affect prices by destroying consumption to the detriment of the entire national economy”, he concludes the president Carlo Rienzi.
