Nougat, mantecados and other Christmas sweets already nourish the pantries of many Spaniards. Although these products have been on supermarket shelves for months, their purchase is mainly concentrated on these dates, a time when some stores take the opportunity to raise their prices. FACUA-Consumers in Action has studied the evolution of the cost of these Christmas classics from October to December and has found that several chains have become more expensive since the last month of the year began.
The organization has monitored the evolution of 282 prices of these products in six supermarkets and hypermarkets in the country. Specifically, they have analyzed 19 brands of nougat, 27 of chocolates and 11 of Polvorones and mantecados from Mercadona, Dia, Alcampo, Hipercor, Carrefour and Eroski.
"Mercadona, Dia and Eroski maintain the price of their Christmas sweets in December compared to what they had in October and have even reduced some of them. Prices were taken on October 20 and December 11," they point out.
But this is not the case in all cases. The association has observed an increase in prices in 12% of the products studied from Hipercor, 33% from Alcampo and 52% from Carrefour.
The study shows that in Carrefour more than 50% of the sweets analyzed have become more expensive as the Christmas holidays approached, thus becoming the supermarket where the most increases have occurred. "34 of the 65 prices included in the sample are more expensive, 24 remain the same as they were in October and seven are cheaper," they state.
The product that has increased the most in price of the entire study, in fact, is the 150 g Trapa brand crunchy chocolate nougat sold at Carrefour. While in October it had a cost of 0.99 euros and in November 1.07 euros, now it is 1.31 euros (it has become 32% more expensive in just two months).
In Alcampo, the 800 g Nestlé Red Box has gone from 15.82 euros in October to 19.98 euros in December, which represents an increase of 26.3%, becoming the second most popular sweet in the analysis. expensive And in this chain the cost of the 288 gram box of Nestlé Dark Sublime 70% Cocoa chocolates has also increased by 24.2%, which has gone from 8.84 euros in October to 10.98 euros in December.
FACUA's comparative analysis includes 19 nougat brands: Hacendado, Suchard, Dulce Noel, El Lobo, Nestlé, 1880, El Corte Ingles, El Almendro, Navarro, Delaviuda, La Pasión, Antiu Xixona, Vicens, Casa Eceiza, Lacasa, Eroski , Castillo de Jijona, Carrefour and Trapa.
Also 11 different brands of Polvorones and mantecados: La Flor de Antequera, La Estepeña, D. Sancho Melero, Alcampo, La Mallorquina, Eroski, Mantequera, E Moreno, Los Primitivo Aguilera, Vega Pas and San Martín de Porres.
