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The independent Spanish consumer association Facua-Consumidores en Acción has carried out a study to compare the price paid to the farmer for the product with the price charged to the consumer in the supermarket and has detected that, in some cases, the increase in price is as much as 583 percent.
Facua took as a reference the prices published by the Ministry of Agriculture during the week of 20-26 January of this year (the last week for which there are records) for a dozen products, including fruit, vegetables, pulses, olive oil and sunflower oil.
On 4 February it also looked at the prices at which these products were sold in different supermarket chains (Mercadona, Dia, Alcampo, Eroski, Alcampo and Carrefour). The study focused on own-label or bulk products, which are usually the lowest prices at the checkout.
Spain's IVA sales tax was subtracted from all supermarket prices (four per cent on fruit, vegetables, pulses and olive oils and 10 per cent on sunflower oils) so that both prices, both at source and at the point of sale, were pre-tax.
The results of this comparison are particularly striking for basic products such as lemons, onions and chickpeas. For example, a kilo of lemons is paid at source at 0.30 euros, while at the point of sale it costs an average of 2.05 euros, an increase of 583%; a kilo of onions is paid at 27 cents and is charged at the supermarket at 1.44 euros, an increase of 433%; and a kilo of chickpeas costs an average of 2.12 euros at the point of sale, while the producer is paid 0.53 euros.
But it is not the only basic foodstuffs where prices are inflated. According to the Facua study, consumers buy a kilo of carrots 220% more expensive than at source; potatoes, 161%, and lentils, 103%.
In comparison, the prices that have increased the least are sunflower oil, whose difference between origin (1.19 euros/kilo) and points of sale (1.61 euros) is 35.3%; and that of extra virgin olive oil, for which the consumer pays around six euros per litre in the supermarket (own brand), while the farmer receives 3.95 euros for each litre produced (a difference of 52%).
Facua has been calling on governments for years to impose dual labelling, so that consumers can see how much farmers have been paid for products sold in supermarkets.
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