Christmas foods become more expensive in Spain, where are the highest increases?

So far in December, the prices of some typically Christmas foods have already increased by an average of 6.1%. This is reflected in the Christmas Price Observatory of the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU), which highlights that this increase is higher than in other campaigns (last year it was 4.3%).

The organization has been analyzing the prices of sixteen typical holiday foods with high demand since 2015, at municipal markets, supermarkets, and hypermarkets in different Spanish cities.

Lechal lamb for roasting in quarters, capon, turkey, hand-carved Iberian ham, pineapple, sea bream, farmed sea bass, elvers, or prawns are some of the products that make up this Christmas basket, but not all of them have gone up in price in the first days of this month.

The OCU states that prices have risen, especially for percebes (30%), angulas (19%), sliced hake (19%), and clams (12%); as well as veal round (6%), whole turkey (5%), sea bass (4%); and to a lesser extent, oysters (2%), pomegranate (2%), grain-fed Iberian ham (1%), sea bream (1%), and red cabbage (1%). The prices remain the same for prawns (0%), quartered lamb (0%), and whole capon (0%). Meanwhile, pineapple prices have decreased by 3%.

The most notable price increases occur in products with a more limited supply than usual, such as seafood or fish, which are in high demand during this time.

So, some of the most expensive Christmas foods today are: elvers (1,369.38 €/kg), Galician barnacles (80.39 €/kg), acorn-fed Iberian ham (62.09 €/kg), sea bream (59.95 €/kg), oysters (26.64 €/dozen), clams (25.99 €/kg), quarter lamb (21.44 €/kg), veal round (18.11 €/kg), and cut hake (15.51 €/kg).

In this scenario, the organization offers some advice on how not to break the bank this holiday season when buying Christmas food. To begin with, they advise planning Christmas dinners in advance and making early purchases. Additionally, they recommend keeping an eye out for deals or substituting more expensive products for affordable ones to avoid price increases. “For example, one can opt for poultry meat, such as turkey or pularda,” the OCU states.

The price of food is still 35.5% higher than it was three years ago, warns the organization, which believes the suspension of the second planned VAT increase for January is justified. It also insists once again that meat and fish should be considered basic food items, suggesting their VAT rate be reduced from the current 10% to 2%.