By Andrea Hargraves 
The basic food basket now stands at 219.40 euros (19.48%), after a slight increase compared to last week (At 217.14 euros): In ten months, since the start of the war in Ukraine, the range of food products that Deco valued now cost €35.78 more than it did before the invasion of Russia.
According to Deco’s analysis, dairy products (26.30%) are the category that most contributes to the increase in the basket, followed by meat and frozen products (20.33%).
“Buying a kilo of sirloin, chicken, pork ribs, pork chops, turkey cutlets, veal and turkey costs 39.54 euros this week. On the eve of the start of the war, on February 23, the same amount of meat cost 32.24 euros, which is 7.30 euros less, ” Deco Protestant points out.
The association also highlights the increase in groceries (19.47%), fish (17.40%) and fruits and vegetables (26.74%).
Between December 28 and January 4, the 10 products that experienced the largest price increase were fish pies (16%), liquid yogurt (up 13%), Carolino rice (10%), broccoli (9%), and cooked chickpeas. (9%), broccoli (8%), long-grain rice (7%), roasted ground coffee (7%), pork chops (7%), frankfurt sausage (7%).
Between February 23, 2022 and January 4, 2023, the most expensive food products in the Portuguese portfolio were Carolino rice (81%), curly lettuce (51%), carrots and superheated nonfat milk. ), Maria biscuits and heart loofah (38%), fish fingers (38%) and liquid yogurt (37%).
The Consumer Protection Association monitors the prices of a basket of 63 basic food products every week, which includes goods such as turkey, chicken, hake, mackerel, onions, potatoes, carrots, bananas, apples, oranges, rice, pasta, sugar, pork, milk Cheese, butter.
The association explains that this increase is due to the fact that Portugal “relies heavily on foreign markets to ensure the supply of cereals necessary for internal consumption”, which “currently represent only 3.5% of national agricultural production: mainly maize (56%), wheat (19%) and rice (16%).
“And if in the early 1990s grain self-sufficiency was about 50%, currently the figure does not exceed 19.4%, which is one of the lowest percentages in the world and which obliges the country to import about 80% of the grain it consumes,” adds Dicko.
The organization explains that “the Russian invasion of Ukraine, from which a large part of the grain consumed in the European Union and Portugal comes from, and therefore, puts more pressure on a sector that was grappling with the consequences of the epidemic and drought that has a strong impact on production and stock creation.”
“The reduction in the supply of raw materials and the increase in production costs, that is, the energy required for agro-food production, may therefore be reflected in an increase in prices on international markets, and thus in prices at the consumer,” he affirms.