Between March 1 and August 31, the price of the basket of essential food items increased by more than €21, indicates an analysis by the consumer protection organisation Deco Proteste. Of the 63 products that make up an essential basket, 55 rose in price.

The essential basket cost €185.17 on March 1 of this year, having increased to €206.39 on the last day of August – that is, consumers began to pay an additional €21.22 for the same food in the space of six months.

Biggest increases

According to Deco, the biggest increases have been seen in fresh hake and broccoli, whose prices climbed by 67 percent and 47 percent, respectively. But other foodstuffs had double-digit rises: kale and cooking oil soared 36 percent, red potatoes are 33 percent more expensive and a whole chicken is 30 percent more expensive.

A turkey steak now costs 25 percent more than at the beginning of March, honey cereals have increased by 23 percent, while pork chops and pork steaks have seen a price rise of, respectively, 20 percent and 18 percent.

Price drops

Only eight of the 63 products that make up an essential basket maintained or dropped in price until August 31, this was the case of coarse salt, whose price remained stable, as well as fibre cereals.

Courgette is the food item that had the biggest drop in price (-23 percent) in the six-month period: from €2.21 down to €1.71 per kilogram. Also noteworthy are the cost of frozen peas, which fell by 7 percent, liquid yogurt (-2 percent) and sliced ​​bread (-1 percent).

Cited in a statement from the organisation, spokeswoman Ana Guerreiro stressed that “this is a time of difficult management for the Portuguese family budget”, with “a worsening of the situation in the near future”.

The essential basket analyzed by Deco comprises 63 foods, including grocery, dairy, meat, fish, fruit, vegetables and frozen foods. The analysis is carried out every Wednesday, based on the prices collected the previous day, and the cost of the basket is obtained by calculating the average price per product in all online supermarkets, present in the organisation's simulator.