Linea Directa 200 LEFT COL CAR INSURANCE

PROPERTY SEARCH

DomusVi Ciudad de Murcia residential cross content 1200

Date Published: 27/02/2023

ARCHIVED - Spanish farmers refuse to buy claims that food prices are falling

ARCHIVED ARTICLE -

The Minister of Agriculture in Spain has asked farmers to reduce their prices

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Spanish farmers refuse to buy claims that food prices are falling

Escalating food prices have been a hot topic in Spain for more than a year now, with inflation reaching 15.4% in January despite a dramatic VAT cut implemented at the beginning of the year that has yet to really make a dent. Despite this, the government insisted last week that Spain has reached the peak in terms of costs and has asked farmers and distributors to “reflect in their prices the decrease in costs that we are observing."

This has been met by bewilderment, and anger in some cases, by those working in the industry, who complain that their operating costs are still sky-high while the inclement weather of late has drastically reduced their yield.

"We were quite surprised by the minister's approach to costs. The perception we have is that production costs are not falling," Andrés Góngora, COAG spokesperson and state head of fruit and vegetables, explained. "It made us feel quite bad. It almost came to imply that now farmers would be justified in lowering prices.”

Other industry insiders highlighted the ongoing costs endured by farmers and ranchers in Spain: in the last two years, the price of fertiliser has increased by 62%, energy by more than 200%, agricultural diesel by 70% and feed now costs double.

The high production costs farmers are complaining about are reflected in the price statistics on the food chain published by Eurostat, which support the story of the agriculture sector that the increase in food prices is in no way as a result of increased profits.

According to Eurostat, the sale prices of food in Spain have grown all these months below the costs of agricultural raw materials (27.4% year-on-year increase in September), agricultural imports (23.9% increase until October) and the food industry (20.6% until December).

"We wish that there is no price increase and that the consumer does not have to suffer the consequences, but the producers are not to blame," the farmers concluded.

In other news: Spain embraces the four-day work week

Image: Freepik

Linea Directa Bottom Article M-Z CAR INSURANCE

Sign up for the Spanish News Today Editors Roundup Weekly Bulletin and get an email with all the week’s news straight to your inbox

Special offer: Subscribe now for 25% off (36.95 euros for 48 Bulletins)