The National Statistics Institute (INE) revealed that inflation in August reached 8.9%, with food products among the main contributors to this value. In this segment, the prices of poultry and edible oils stand out, which had a variation, respectively, of 25.1% and 36.2% between February and August.

According to the statistics office, the oil and fat subgroup recorded “relevant increases from March onwards”, reaching maximums in May. The variation in this segment since Russia invaded Ukraine, on 24 February, was 22.9% up to August, with emphasis on the behaviour of edible oil prices, which recorded the greatest variation in the same period — namely, from 36.2%.

Despite a “later and less intense impact” in relation to oils and fats, there are other segments which highlight the prices of food products during the last six months. With a change of 16.7%, meat prices registered the second biggest increase since the beginning of the conflict, in particular poultry meat (25.1%) and pork meat (23.4%).

Fruit prices had started to decline, but from March onwards they registered significant increases, showing a rise of 13.7% between February and August and contributing 0.289 percentage points to the variation of the CPI.

The statistics office also mentions the 10.7% increase in the bread and cereals segment, with emphasis on other bakery products, cookies and crackers (12.5%) and bread (8.8%). Among food products, this was the second subgroup that contributed the most to the price index – 0.457 percentage points.

Finally, the milk, cheese and eggs and fish sectors recorded a price change of 10.3% and 8.7%, respectively, in the period under review. As for the first subgroup, the prices of cheese and curd cheese (11.3%) and skim cow's milk (17%) stand out, while the cost of fresh or refrigerated fish rose 9.9% in the last six months.