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Which Spanish supermarkets have put up their prices the most?

Grocery prices in Spanish supermarkets have been rising sharply over the past year, but which chains have increased their prices the most?

Published: 4 May 2022 17:10 CEST
Updated: 8 May 2022 09:52 CEST
supermarket in Spain
Which supermarkets in Spain have increased prices the most. Photo: JAIME REINA / AFP

Spain’s main supermarket chains have raised their prices by 9.4 percent in the last year, according to a study by the Organisation of Consumers and Users (OCU).

Due to rising inflation and the economic impact of the war in Ukraine, the consumer watchdog has also confirmed that this price escalation has mostly occurred in the last three months. 

Carrefour and Mercadona, are the supermarket chains with the highest increases.

In total there have been 15 months of continuous increases in all the supermarket chains analysed by the OCU. The rise has been close to 10 percent in all of them, with small differences. While Alcampo continues to be the cheapest national chain.

From March 2021 to March 2022, Carrefour saw increases of 12.1 percent, while Mercadona saw increases of 11.4 percent. However, both Mercadona and Carrefour continue to be among the cheapest national chains.

On the other end of the scale, El Corte Inglés and Hipercor experienced the lowest price increases at 7.7 percent.

The other chains hover between 9.5 percent increases in the case of Eroski and 8.4 percent in the case of Condis.  

What are the products that have increased in price the most?

Oil and fish are the items that shot up in price the most. Oil rose by a whopping 34 percent and fish prices grew by 16 percent. Other items that rose considerably include packaged and processed foods (11 percent increase) and dairy products (also 11 percent increase).

These price surges are worrying because if they are maintained, it will mean an increase of more than €500 a year for food shopping for the average Spanish family.

READ ALSO: The food products that are more expensive than ever in Spain

Why are groceries in Spain now so much more expensive?

Rising energy costs, inflation and the war in Ukraine are among the main causes highlighted by the OCU for the rise in the cost of products.

These lead to a rise in production costs and a shortage in some products such as that of sunflower oil, much of which comes from Ukraine.

As the economy ground to a halt during the pandemic lockdowns, the production of gas and other fossil fuels was cut to adjust to low demand. The sharp rebound in activity caused an imbalance and in turn caused the prices of these fuels to rise. 

In recent months these factors have also caused a rise in the prices of raw materials, such as fertilisers used in agriculture and wheat, necessary to make a whole array of other food items. High energy prices have also increased costs for farms, and fisheries, in addition to those faced by distributors and manufacturers.

The OCU analysed 156 products across nine different supermarket chains in 10 different Spanish cities for just over a year from December 2020 to March 2022

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SPANISH TRADITIONS

Everything you need to know about Mother’s Day in Spain

Here's how and when in May Mother's Day is celebrated in Spain, and why it owes its roots to religion and a Valencian poet.

Published: 3 May 2024 13:37 CEST
Everything you need to know about Mother's Day in Spain

This year, Mother’s Day (El Día de la Madre) is celebrated in Spain on Sunday May 5th. It’s always celebrated on the first Sunday of the month of May.

On this day, young children in Spain give their mothers manualidades (crafts) they’ve made at school as a token of their love.

Husbands and older sons and daughters may buy their wives/mothers a present to say thanks for all that they do as matriarchs, which usually takes the form of a detalle (smaller present than for a birthday or Christmas), and will come accompanied by a message such as te quiero, mamá (I love you, mum).

According to experiences website Aladinia, the average Spaniards spends €65 on gifts on Mother’s Day. 

Other mums may send out text messages to wish each other ¡Feliz Día de la Madre! (Happy Mother’s Day!).

As it’s always celebrated on a Sunday, many shops will be closed but you can expect plenty of restaurants to be open for lunch and perhaps dinner. 

Depending where you’re from, the first Sunday of May may or may not be when you’re used to celebrating Mother’s Day in your home country.

Around the world over 100 countries celebrate Mother’s Day (or Mothering Sunday, more on the difference below) – 77 in May, 13 in March, and 14 at other times during the year.

Some countries, like the UK, celebrate Mothering Sunday on the fourth Sunday during Lent, meaning that the date changes each year. This is because Mothering Sunday was originally a Christian holiday in some European countries.

READ ALSO: How a female teacher campaigned for Spain to have a Father’s Day

Spain, however, celebrates Mother’s Day on the first Sunday in May each year, meaning that it doesn’t have a fixed date either. But it wasn’t always like that.

The history of Mother’s Day in Spain

The first Mother’s Day in Spain was celebrated in Madrid all the way back on October 4th, 1926. Much of the impetus for establishing a day to celebrate mothers came, rather fittingly, from a poet.

Julio Menéndez García, a Valencian poet and public servant, pushed for a special day to celebrate mothers. Spanish newspaper La Libertad published a short section on Garcìa’s efforts in October 1925:

“A Levantine poet, Julio Menéndez García, has had the happy initiative that in Spain and in the Spanish-speaking nations a day should be consecrated to extol the love of mothers. The establishment of Mother’s Day is something tender and sympathetic, which deserves to be welcomed by governments, the press and public opinion, as it involves the highest tribute to women in their most august representation.”

After the Civil War, the church moved the date to December 8th to coincide with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a key holiday among Catholics. 

Civil War-era poster urging Madrid mothers to leave the Spanish capital with their children before the arrival of Franco’s troops. (Photo by AFP)

But it wasn’t until 1965 that Mother’s Day was celebrated in May in Spain. The reason for this change of date was to separate the celebrations (both were considered important enough to have their own day) but also the influence of other countries, namely the United States.

The campaign for a Mother’s Day was originally started by Anna Jarvis, an American wanting to honour her mother, in 1908. By 1914, US President Woodrow Wilson officially signed it into law, establishing a May date. 

However, for many years in Spain department store El Corte Inglés maintained the date of 8th December, meaning that Spain Mother’s Day was celebrated twice a year for a while, commercially speaking at least.

In 1936 a local council in Breña Baja, on the Canary island of La Palma, became the first in Spain to move Mother’s Day to May.

However, in 1965 the church authorities officially decided to move Mother’s Day to May, a month consecrated to the Virgin Mary. May is also the month of female gods in the classical world, and in Catholicism is dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Interestingly, Jarvis herself later campaigned against the day, arguing it had become overly commercialised, something Spaniards often bemoan about other imported American customs like Halloween and Valentine’s Day. 

READ ALSO: How a female teacher campaigned for Spain to have a Father’s Day

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