16.8% of the basic foods affected by the VAT reduction have not lowered their price. On the contrary, they have risen, according to the analysis carried out by Facua. The consumer organization has reviewed the evolution of 1,020 products between December 30 of last year and February 6 and 7, 2023 and the conclusion is that in 172 labels the price is higher than before the tax cut came into force .
This analysis has led Facua to expand its complaint before the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC). The document that he is going to present to the regulator cites eight large distribution chains for increasing said prices. They are Hipercor, Carrefour, Aldi, Eroski, Lidl, Dia, Alcampo and, this time, Mercadona, which was not included in the previous two complaints.
The 172 foods in which Facua has detected a price increase despite the VAT reduction are mainly fruits and vegetables, in 67 cases; milk and dairy, at 35; olive and sunflower oils, at 30; legumes, at 17 prices; rice, in 10; and pasta, at 9. The remaining ten are mainly breads and eggs.
As regards companies, Hipercor is the company where Facua has detected more price rises in products: 53 prices out of 166 analysed, 32%. It is followed by Carrefour, with 45 more expensive products than on December 30 out of a sample of 174 prices, 26%. Aldi, for its part, has increased 11 of the 61 prices under study, 18%, while Eroski has done so in 24 of the 136 foods included in the expansion of the complaint, 18%. The association has detected 9 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 increase in prices affected by the tax measure has been registered are Alcampo, with 9 products out of the total 139 included in the analysis, 6%), and Mercadona, with 10 among the 142 prices registered. , 7%.
The biggest price increases in the last month, since the government decree came into force, correspond to fruits or vegetables. For example, Facua denounces that the price of pomegranates in Carrefour has gone from 1.91 euros/kilo on January 3 to 3.99 euros/kilo on February 7, a rise of 108.9%. In 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.
In Hipercor, for its part, the kilo of Brillante Sabroz rice has become more expensive by 53.3%, going from 1.82 euros to 2.79 euros this month. And at Aldi, the one-litre Carbonell olive oil has also increased its price by 52.8%: from 5.43 euros to 8.30 euros. In all these products, the chains had passed on the drop in VAT at the beginning of January, not one cent more and not one less.
Facua demands that the Government set maximum prices for basic foods by law, "something for which it is empowered as established in article 13 of the 1996 trade law," defends the consumer organization.
