The blockade of the Ukrainian ports of the Black Sea by the Russian navy has among the consequences that of driving the prices of food products also in Italy. In April, retail prices exploded, to the point that – underlines the Codacons – a family, in 2022, will have to take into account a greater expense only for food equal to approximately +480 euros. The consumer association has reworked the final inflation data released Tuesday 17 May by Istat.
Istat, growth in shopping cart prices in April: + 5.7%
At the same time, the statistical body in the report on the final data on consumer prices for April 2022 explained that «the final estimate of April accentuates the slowdown in inflation recorded by the preliminary data. This trend – continues the Istat analysis – is mainly attributable to the inclusion of the energy bonus (electricity and gas) in the calculation of consumer price indices, made possible by the availability of estimates on the audience of beneficiaries (extended from 1 April up to around 5 million households, 3 for the electricity bonus and 2 for the gas bonus, with retroactive validity from 1 January 2022). However, inflationary tensions – concludes Istat – continue to spread to other product sectors, such as durable and non-durable goods, transport services and processed food, with the rise in prices of the so-called “shopping cart” leads to + 5.7% “.
Seed oil champion of price increases
Codacons explains that the record price increases are once again up to seed oil, whose price increases in Italy by an average of + 65.3% compared to 2021. In the ranking of increases in food products, the second place goes to pears which rose on an annual basis by + 25.8%, followed by tomatoes (+ 19.2%), flour (+ 17.1%) and butter (+ 15.6%). Very strong increases were also recorded for pasta (+ 13.4%), poultry (+ 12.3%) and fresh vegetables (+ 12%).
How much this scenario weighs on the pockets of families
Considering the average annual expenditure of a “typical” family by type of product, in 2022 a nucleus, due to price increases, spends +52.7 euros for vegetables, +33.5 euros for fruit, +27, € 6 for chicken, + € 22.5 for bread, and + € 19 for pasta.
Overall a mini sting of +480 euros per year per family
Overall, the increases in retail price lists are worth a mini-sting of +480 euros per family per year only for the expenditure on food and drinks, according to Codacons.