The overall inflation rate in Spain also rose very slightly last month to 3.4% and underlying inflation was at 3.6%
The cost of the daily shop in Spain continues to be the Achilles’ heel of the fight against inflation.
The annual rate of inflation for basic food products in January this year was 7.4 per cent, a very slight increase on December, according to the INE national statistics office. The biggest rises were in fish and seafood, vegetables and cooking oils.
Food is in fact the category that is most out of kilter with the rest of the rate of inflation. Inflation overall in Spain at the end of January was 3.4 per cent year on year, up 0.3 percentage points on December.
The uptick in food prices does not come at exactly the best time, after almost two weeks with farmers staging protests across the country to demand fairer prices, an end to «unfair» competition from third countries and the simplification of EU bureaucracy.
The ministry for the Economy has admitted that food prices «are still high», but insisted that these were «on course» to become normal again.
It added that the inflation rate for food produce has dropped by more than half in the last year after standing at 16.6 per cent in February 2023.
Underlying inflation (without basic food or energy products) dropped 0.2 percentage points to 3.6 per cent, slightly above overall inflation but the lowest underlying figure since March 2022.
